The Road Ahead
by BonJovy12
Summary: Nick and Judy are a few years into their career, and crime couldn’t be lower. This is not a bad thing by itself. But how it got there? That. That is the issue. This is on the high T end, just a warning, language could go a bit higher and there is violence, it’d proably get PG-13 if it was a movie.
1. On Ramp

_New Story! Let's put aside the fact that I have two other active stories and focus on this one K? Alright, so this ones going to focus on Nick and Judy and how they are living in the city where anyone can be anything! - The Spanish Inquisition. (The Author)_

_——————————_

**_Prologue_**

Two years. Two years without a major case in Zootopia. In those two years Nick and Judy made a name for themselves as one of the best if not _the_ best team in the entire ZPD. Their arrest count was high enough, not as high as when Nick first joined the force though.

When Nick first joined the force they pair would be in and out of the station, sometimes bagging half a dozen crooks in a shift, crime was everywhere, everything from purse snatchers to bank robbers would be taken down by the dynamic duo. Then came the lull. It had happened quickly. All of a sudden crime rates plummeted to an all time low, people could walk the streets at night without fear of being mugged or beaten, it was becoming commonplace to leave your car unlocked when you went to get groceries! But that didn't paint the whole picture.

Violent crime had a spike, fifteen murders in a week, thirty cases of assault, the victims all refusing to identify the perpetrator, a break and enter of a known gang hideout, bodies found everywhere. Then someone talked.

They called him the Spanish Inquisition, he came fast, he came when nobody expected him, and he was brutal. He didn't take prisoners unless it suited his needs. He wore a suit and tie, all blood red, finished with a black bandanna, red tint aviators, and black Panama hat, the rumours because it was easier to get the blood out of those clothes because of the colour.

His tactics were unique. The mammals who talked said he didn't speak much, straight to the point, once he was done with you, he was done with you. The most recent of his victims was a carjacker who took the car with a cub in the back seat. The carjacker was found a block over, bullet to the back of his head, a handwritten note and a wad of cash under the wiper blade of the car.

He was making a fool out of the ZPD, while they had barely been able to deal with the crime, he'd came in and closed up shop, he was already in the running to become a new folk hero, all he needed was a catchy tune other then the one from the old _Monty Python_ sketch, the jarring cord followed by the door bursting open. It was a joke, a criminal would be seated, counting their daily winnings, if it was a mammal who simply bust an ATM open, he'd get hogtied and would be found on the corner of the street, a purse snatcher who hurt an old badger got his arm broken. The worst by far was a rapist who only went for minors, he had his **[REDACTED] **removed, then tied to the front of a semi, the semi had been floored and while still alive he was **[REDACTED]** and after that the body was **[REDACTED]** all in all, rape had dropped to a zero, the image of what had happened to the mammal having shocked common sense into any others.

There was only one picture of the vigilante, he had been caught in the middle of dealing with a murderer, the photo shows the murderer's head already jerking back, the muzzle flash from the black and red painted Browning Hi-Power in the vigilante's paw just coming into view, the hot brass of the casing still having embers in it. And it had been on the 6 O'clock news.

"SETTLE DOWN!" Bogo orders, the bullpen settling into respectful silence as the intimidating Cape Buffalo at the front of the room shuffled his notes.

"Standard patrols, usual partners. Wilde is out sick, so Hopps you are being paired with Jacobs." Bogo informs, the pairs of officers grabbing their assigned file from the Chief, Judy going to meet the new officer.

"Jacobs, welcome to Precinct one!" Judy exclaims, wrapping an arm around the newest addition to the Precinct as she glanced at the file in her other arm. "Damn, we got the Industrial District, this should be a boring shift. Maybe we'll come along a drug dealer or two."

"That's The Inquisition's home turf, maybe we'll have a glimpse of him today." Jacobs says, a hint of excitement in ha voice.

"If we catch him we're arresting him, he's a mass murderer and a criminal." Judy states, her voice showing no mercy as they approach their cruiser.

It was a silent ride to the district, the only communication between the two for the majority of the shift being Judy's directions to the badger next to her. They found a nice spot to run radar, while watching the semis roll past. After a while of waiting a rusty pickup truck finally sped past enough to warrant a ticket, the rust bucket was pushing itself as it sped past the radar going 65, a whopping fifteen over the limit.

Judy typed the plate into the computer as Jacobs approached the vehicle, she was cursing the bad reception as the computer took forever to churn out an answer, she barely recognized Jacobs' incrisingly volatile conversation, just putting it to an annoyed driver. Her eyes finally returned to the screen to find three words no officer ever wants to see. "**Armed and Dangerous**" was in big, bold, red letters right infront of her. Her daze was brought back to reality with the crack of a gun and the spinning of tires.

Flicking into overdrive, Judy got to her fallen partner in record time. She knew it was hopeless, the shot was center mass, through and through with a high caliber round, she knew the most she could do was comfort the mammal as he died. She said the standard 'everything's going to be Alright' Over and over and over until the badger went limp, his eyes unmoving as his body leaned back on the pavement. Her tunnel vision lifted and she looked down the road to view the trail of smoke that she expected the pickup to have left but was met with a different sight.

Less then a block down the road, the pickup had slammed headfirst into a telephone pole, and walking down the road towards her were two mammals. One was the reindeer that was driving the pickup, she was on her back as she was dragged towards the officer, following the black glove holding on to the reindeer's shirt, she let her eyes draw up the red suit cuff, following it to the black bandanna, red tinted aviators, and black Panama hat that stared at her as the mammal walked towards her, signature pistol in hand, blood seen coming from claw scratches on his chest and lower body.

She remained in silent shock, unmoving as the vigilante stopped several meters from her, placing the murderer infront of him, on her knees.

"The choice is yours Officer Hopps." The masked mammal spoke with a deep voice, the only indication that it was him that talked was the way his bandanna moved.

"What choice?" She asked, subconsciously reaching for her pistol.

"Whether you want this mammal to stand trial, get the death penalty, rotting in prison for twenty years before being executed. Or, I can cut to the chase right now." He explained, resting the muzzle of his pistol on the back of the reindeer's head. "I will give you five seconds to decide."

Judy was in shock, but she didn't waste time, instantly replying with the correct form of justice, and not summary execution.

The vigilante simply shrugged, grabbing a tranquilizer dart from the inside of his jacket and jabbing it into the criminal, who promptly fell forwards.

"Y- you ar- are under a- arrest for murder, assa-" Judy began to stammer, being stopped by a polite hand raise from the vigilante.

"Officer Hopps, I have no intentions to injure you, but I will not willingly be taken to jail, after all, I am doing most of your work." The jeer came perfectly as intended, causing Judy to draw her tranquilizer gun, only for it to shatter in her hand with another bullet.

"Officer, I shall take my leave, if you follow me, I will be forced to tranquilize you and proceed to cuff you to your bumper with your own paw cuffs." He simply stated before turning and walking towards an alleyway.

Twenty minutes later Judy found herself still struggling to uncuff herself, she could hear the approaching sirens due to the calls made by several drivers who stopped, and by the call the masked mammal had made over her radio announcing an officer down along with a few other highly identifying issues.

"Hopps, are you Alright?" Came Bogo's somewhat caring voice. She took her head out of her knees to look at the Chief, who only went out in the field for major issues.

"I am fine, however Jacobs is..." She began before beginning to break down, the adrenaline long gone only the memories left.

The Chief turned to look at the pool of blood underneath crimson blanket, before looking at the crashed truck down the street, and the criminal in the rear seat of the cruiser.

"Was it the Inquisition?" Bogo asks, kneeling next to the officer as other cruisers decend on the scene.

"Yes, after Jacobs was shot, I stayed with him as it was hopeless. The Inquisition came up to me with the shooter being dragged behind him, he gave me the option of what happened next." She managed to relay in between sobs.

"Let me guess, summary execution or relinquished to your custody?" Bogo theorizes, looking around the area, finding a mammal standing on a nearby rooftop, he made eye contact in the setting sun, simply nodding to the mammal, the reflection from the sunglasses the only indication that he nodded back before turning and walking out of sight.

-0-

"_Doctor._" The phone says, as a mammal lean forwards, trying to get a better hear of the mammal on the other end.

"What medical attention do you require now?" The grey fox asks, now leaning back in his chair as he flips through a notebook on the desk.

"_Claw marks to my chest and abdomen, a reindeer decided to get those new claw attachments, I guess brass knuckles finally went out of style._" The voice on the other end says, the mammal picking up the cell phone and standing from his chair.

The mammal begins to make his way to the door, grabbing a duffel bag as he passes it, all the while listinging to the phone, some jumbled ranting coming from the other end.

The man closes his office door, quickly making his way down the hall, passing several nurses and a obestrics Surgeon hurriedly rushing towards an operating room. Nodding to a panda behind the reception desk he ducks down a side hallway, glancing over his shoulder as he approaches the emergency exit at the end. Punching a code into a keypad the door clicks, signalling the fire alarm has been deactivated, and he pushes it open.

The cool of the night greets him on the other side, down three steps to the alleyway asphalt he looks around, bringing the cell phone back to his ear. "Mate, if you do the whole Batman shpeil again, I swear I'm going to punch you in the face."

The line remains silent as the fox stands there, breathing in the twilight air, his nose twitching slightly due to the smell of exhaust. "Yea, I value my face too much to let that happen. And stop mumbleing about yourself in the third person." A voice from behind him says, he looks up to find the manmal of the hour infront of him, several claw marks on his body.

"Bleedings mostly clotted itself, its not urgent, I got you the new spray." I observe, holding up a spray can that the trauma department affectionately named 'skin in a can' due to the fact that it's skin in a can.

"So what? Spray it on?" The masked mammal asks.

"Cameron, it's not rocket science, spray it on, wait for the burning feeling to stop and you're good to go." I explain, making gestures with my hands to get the point across.

"Thanks _Sean._" He jeers, I just roll my eyes and walk back towards the door I came from.

"You owe me a cider or two at the Bog." I grumble, punching the code in again.

-0-

I hum to myself, running across the rooftop I keep my strides in tempo with the beat of the song, reaching the edge of the roof I leap, tucking and rolling as I hit the next roof.

Being a vigilante was probably one of the poorer decisions I've made, not the worst though, definitely not the worst. If a man named Hanz challenges you to a beer drinking contest, accept the challenge, but tap out before you black out. _Learned that one the hard way..._ There essentially three rules to being a vigilante. One, have the public on your side. Two, have a set of rules and _stick to them._ Three, whatever you do. Don't. Get. Caught. Getting caught is not just bad in the sense that you're in jail for vigilantism, but also the fact that you're name is now publicly recorded as a vigilante and you will either get shanked in the showers, or have the joy of being in solitary confinement for the duration of you stay in prison.

Of course, I have my reasons. They may not be what a jury would say 'justifies my actions' but they are my reasons none the less. I respect the police with all my heart, and as much as I would have _loved_ to put a nine mill round in the back of that does head, the officer said they wanted the legal route, so they get the legal route.

That Judy Hopps. She's the officer I respect the third most, first most being Chief Bogo, and second being Officer Wilde. Hopps is the prime example of what I love about civilization. Someone who has a goal in mind will strive to get it done, and will succeed or die trying. Of course instead of killing her, I instead gave her enough tranquilizer to daze her and then cuffed her to the bumper of the vehicle, but the spirit was all there!

My train of thought is derailed as I hear a scream, and not the kind of scream someone has when they get surprised or scared, it was a scream that I leaned means life or death. Quickly jumping an alley, I find my target.

_Female ocelot, looks to be mid twenties... One attacker, male cheetah, upper teens to mid twenties, armed with a butterfly knife, holding it incorrectly so he is either rushing or inexperienced. Being taken down an alley, purse left behind, either kidnapping or either kind of assault..._

I quickly decend the building, jumping to outcroppings in every story, until I hit the ground a few meters from the pair. I look through my digitally enhancing glasses, from the outside they looked like tinted aviators, but in reality they let me see in the dark, and had a thermal mode if needed.

I stop the cheetah in his tracks by racking the slide on my Hi-Power, the click of the safety going off causing the cheetah to become aware of my presence.

"Let's cut to the chase, it's late, I have other things to do, let her go now and you get to live." I inform, leveling the pistol at the mammal's chest.

"And whatcha gonna do abo-" ***BANG*** Pulling the half stripped ocelot to her feet infront of him, using her as a shield, his sentence was rudely interrupted by a bullet tearing through his skull at three hundred and thirty five meters per second.

His body crumples backwards, falling in a heap on the asphalt, blood starting to pool around him. I holster the pistol, grabbing the ocelot's coat off the ground where the cheetah tossed it, and putting it on her shoulders as I seat her on the ground, facing away from the corpse.

"He- he- he was g- going to- to..." She tries to say, I stop her, knowing saying it at this point won't help it whatsoever.

"You're Okay now, he's not going to hurt you." I comfort, beginning to hear police sirens approaching the area. "Is there anything that you need right now?"

She nods, wrapping me in a hug and beginning to cry. Not particularly knowing how to respond, seeing as I don't usually deal with the victims short of saving their life and providing first aid if required, I simply allow her to cry.

I spot a pair of officers at the end of the alley. Knowing I have a tranquilizer gun if they decide to make it their life's work to arrest me, I don't bother moving, allowing the ocelot to continue receiving the comfort that she needs.

"Officers." I simply state as the pair approach, tranquilizer raised towards me.

The two, a tigress and a timber wolf, scan the scene, taking in the dead cheetah, the crying ocelot and myself, and slowly lower their tranquilizers, summarizing that I'm not a threat.

"So ah... Mr. Inquisition... can we get some details about ahhh... this?" The Timberwolf asks, continuing to scan the scene.

"Please, Mr. Inquisition was my father, call me Spanish. Well you see, I overheard this mammal screaming for help, and came across the cheetah dragging her down an alley, before proceeding to begin the process of a certain crime that I dislike the most. I intervened, giving him the chance to release her. And when he instead used her as a shield, I responded by putting a bullet in his skull."

"Well, it looks like the victim was saved by a kind Samaritan, who fled into the night before police arrived, what do you thing Arron?" The tigress says, looking at her partner.

"Yea, too bad that we don't have any shell casings to identify any prints there may be." The Timberwolf replies, flicking my spent brass into a dumpster. "Oh and one more thing Spanish, how did you manage to cuff Hopps to her bumper?"

"Kevlar woven clothing, tranquilizer darts can't penetrate it, so after she used all her darts, I simply aimed mypistol at her and then shot her with one of my tranquilizer darts." I inform, relinquishing the ocelot to the tigress.

I stroll down the alleyway, parkouring my way back to the rooftops, making my way home.

-0-

_"Hear the sound of the falling rain, Coming down like an Armageddon flame (hey!), A shame, The ones who died without a name_

_Hear the dogs howlin' out of key, To a hymn called faith and misery (hey!), And bleed, the company lost the war today..."_

ka-chunk*

I whistle to the tune of the song, ignoring the gaggle of police officers still milling around the emergency waiting room as I grab the can of pop from the vending machine. It had been three days since Cameron came to me for medical aid. _Again._ His side job _will_ eventually get him killed, of course his day job wasn't much better, he was officially the Hospital's coroner and medical examiner. Convenient consitering the majority of bodies coming through were due to him.

I turn and stroll away from the reception desk, tucking my iPod classic into my lab coat, I catch two police officers - a fox and a bunny - step onto the service elevator. Deciding to be the doctor that likes to mess with cops when it's not an urgent matter, I wander into the elevator shortly before the doors close, noticing the morgue button already pressed.

"So officers, what you doing heading down to the morgue?" I inquire, already putting two and two together to know they want answers from Cameron, taking out a pair of earplugs, quickly putting them in

The fox goes to open his mouth when a bell chimes and the doors open, the rabbit clamps her ears down almost immediately, the fox wincing. I had prepared myself so I was somewhat alright.

_"London calling to the zombies of death, Quit holding out and draw another breath, London calling and I don't want to shout, But when we were talking I saw you nodding out..."_

The beat rattles the walls, the two officers still wincing in pain as the deafening music rattles the room. The morgue is a simple five room complex attached to the parking garage underneath the hospital. First there was the autopsy room, with two tables and a assorted cabinets, desks, and tables. Second there was the actual morgue, with eighty variously sized fridges. And finally there was Cameron's office, and the two other medical examiners offices, a polar bear named Tornakov, and an big Mexican small-eared shrew named Gomez.

I guide the two officers past one of the tables, a white sheet currently over a lion sized object on said table, through the autopsy room and over to the open door of Cameron's office, where he is currently doing something on his computer. I not-so-gently bang on his door, catching his attention.

He cranks the music down to a respectability low level, waiving the two officers to sit in the chairs opposite him, while I simply found his desk to see what he's working on.

"Getting that project done I see." I comment generically, finding that he's playing _Half Life 2_ on his computer, simply smirking and leaning against the wall behind him.

"Mhm, Anyways, What can I do for you officers?" He asks, pausing the game and leaning back in his chair, stretching his back as he leans backwards.

"Your newest 'patient' Miss. Long." The rabbit informs, flashing a ZPD Badge. "How did she die?"

"Well." Cameron says, leaning forward again, minimizing the game and pulling up a document. "Miss. Yui Long's death can be attributed to a few things..." He continues, printing off the sheet and standing, waiving the officers to follow him. He appears to keep a watchful eye on the rabbit though.

He strolls over to the table, pulling back the sheet to expose the face and neck of the Sika deer, dropping it before it exposed anything indecent.

"She suffered several bruises to her face, neck, upper and lower bodies, left arm, and right knuckles. Clearly in a bad fight, she also has a broken skull, three cracked ribs, a fractured tibula, and the kicker, her knuckles have been broken dozens of times over her lifetime, never appear to have been healed properly, my guess would be a avid fighter, used her fists. Anyways, her cause of death would be due to cerebral hemorrhaging due to _years_ of brain trauma, the final nail being an extremely bad blow to the back of the head here." He informs, indicating parts of the body with his pen, finally gripping the pen in his mouth and tilting the courpse's head sideways to reveal a nasty blow to the back of the head, causing the rabbit, who by now I recognized as Judy Hopps, to gag, while the fox, who must be that Wilde guy, merely looks away.

"Any idea what caused it?" Wilde asks, turning back as Cameron puts the sheet back over the head.

"Literally anything, punch, kick, beer bottle, slip on some ice and bash your head on the driveway, bash you heard against a wall hard enough, infinite ways. Most likely to align with the other injuries would probably be from being beaten to death, melee weapons most likely, could be bare hands as well." Cameron informs, leading us back to his office, slumping back into his chair as the conversation wears on, still keeping an eye on the rabbit.

"Thank you Dr. Robertson. I do have one more question for you though." Hopps piped up, I see Cameron quietly open a desk drawer without changing eye contact, slowly drawing a tranquilizer pistol, I reach behind my waist and grip the SIG P226 I keep tucked into my pants, making it appear as if I'm simply scratching my back. "Do you believe Miss. Long was in a fighting ring?"

I watch Cameron relax, and I stop gripping the SIG, going to scratch my skull as he speaks. "Well, in my opinion, most likely."

The officers exchange their thanks, and I wait for the elevator to close to begin speaking, slumping into one of the chairs in the meantime. "Jesus fuck, there would be no way we could get away with either kidnapping or murdering those two."

"Dude, She was the cop I saved the other day. I have zero doubt that she recognized my voice, it ain't exactly inconspicuous." He seethes, rubbing his face as he checks his watch.

-0-

"_Earlier today, Mr. Higgins was sentenced to time served with no probation or other repercussions, he was charged in May of this year with the aggravated sexual assault of a minor, now the weath-_"

I mute the TV, standing off of my couch I hammer back the rest of my drink, leaving the glass in the kitchen sink I walk over to the door, grabbing a rifle case on my way to the door, I swing it open, pausing as I find a group of mammals outside my door.

"Can I help you officers?" I ask, scanning the SWAT breaching team infront of me as I set down the case.

"Are you Cameron Robertson?" One of them, a Timberwolf, inquires.

"Cut to the chase, do I have a warrant for my arrest." I cut to the point, crossing my arms across my chest as I scan the various mammals, scowling at a rhino still ready to break down the door.

"Yes, you have a warrant for quite a few charges."

I sigh, rubbing a paw over my face, knowing the only evidence they have is Hopps's word.

"SHAWN, CALL MY LAWYER!" I yell back into the apartment, getting a muffled reply back. "I ain't leaving, and you ain't coming in till he gets here."

"Well we need to..." The Timberwolf begins again, being cut off by me.

"Sure you do, here I'll make you a bit more relaxed." I lift my shirt, revealing my holstered Hi-Power tucked into my waistline, tossing it over the back of my head. Not hearing it hit the floor I turn my head, finding Shawn in only a pair of long-johns, talking into his cell phone. "I'll even leave the door open for you. Just stay outside, only other way out of this place would for me to jump off the balcony, into the waiting arms of your pals."

I watch them exchange a few glances, one pointing out the security cameras in my apartment. They seem to un-verbally agree on something, and a second later I'm finding myself spazaming on my back, taser prongs in my chest.

They leave my on my back, simply cuffing one of my arms to one of the exposed water pipes near the door. "Shawwwwwwn, how long till White gets here?" I ask, intending for the cops to hear me.

I hear a few murmurs from the SWAT, and now regular officers around my apartment. One anxious fox beginning to look through drawers.

"Officer." Shawn simply says, standing directly behind Wilde.

"Yes?" He replies, turning his head as he continues to look through the drawer.

"This apartment is in my client's friend's name. Something you should know is that se needs to give permission for you to search it. You do not have the right to search it just because my client is staying here." A dingo says as he appears in the doorway.

"Yeaaa, that's what all lawyers say." The fox says, going back to rummaging, all the other officers present having the blood draining from their faces.

"Oi, White, remains him of Zootopia's laws on shooting trespassers." Shawn interrupts, looking at the lawyer, intentionally shifting his position to make the P226 tucked in his waistline visible to Wilde.

"Oh, I've memorized that one! _Any property owner myuse necessary force is needed to defend their property from any trespassers._" White informs, calmly strolling over to me.

"You can't shoot me." Wilde croaks, the blood draining from his face.

"I mean, if I were to put a bullet in your leg so you can't run that's fine. Killing you... seeing as you are armed and trained to kill if needed. Yea I'm legally allowed to do that as well. So for your well being. Get out. Of my apartment."

-0-

Bogo is a calm and collected mammal. But sometimes, he just has to sit down and hang his head in disappointment. Such was the current situation, Bogo is behind his desk, face down, one hoof rubbing his temple, while Hopps and Wilde look at their boss, not daring to question him out of fear.

"Hopps. Who signed the warrant?" Bogo simply asks, not lifting his head, causing his question to be slightly muffled, while the table vibrates slightly.

"Judge Anderson." Judy replies, keeping her eyes forward.

"Did you inform judge Anderson that the only evidence that you had was the fact that the two mammals are generally the same size and have similar voices. And it just so happens that the first one out of most likely hundreds of deep voiced wolfs in the city you meet after your interaction was Dr. Robertson?" Bogo continues, now raising his head to show his face, a look of either disappointment or indifference soon his face.

"No I did not sir."

Bogo rubs his face, presumably to quell a migraine that has arisen.

"Wilde. You almost broke the nose of the Head Trauma Surgeon at ZGH. Why?" The chief asks, turning his attention to the red furred mammal infront of him.

"He threatened my life." Nick replies simply, refusing to say anything further.

"Well, according to Fangmeyer... Ahem. 'Officer Wilde acted outside of his duty to keep watch of Dr. Robertson by beginning to search through drawers. When the doctor's lawyer arrived he advised Wilde of the fact that the apartment was owned by Dr. Hagler, and as such, only things within the apartment identified by either of the doctors or the lawyer as Dr. Robertson's could be searched. When Officer Wilde returned to searching the drawer, the homeowner uncovered a consealed pistol and asked his lawyer on the legality of shooting a tresspasser, which the lawyer correctly informed was within his rights if the intruder posed a threat to him. The homeowner made a few veiled threats of non-lethally shooting Wilde if he continued rummaging through his property, causing Wilde to spin around and deliver a crippling punch to Dr. Hagler, causing him to immediately fall backwards unconscious. In my opinion this was an overuse of force, as Dr. Hagler clearly had zero intention of harm and was simply trying to get another officer to halt Wilde.' I have a similar report from every other Officer that saw the exchange, Robertson has pressed charges on Hagler's behalf, and we will likely have to release Robertson because we have ZERO EVIDENCE!"

The room remains eerily quiet after the shout, the two smaller mammals simply looking at their paws as they truly to sink into the chairs, silently praying to be taken out of this situation. The Chief begins breathing slower, a successful strategy to calm him down.

"Now. Wilde, suspended two weeks, one without pay. This is not negotiable, you assaulted a member of the public and are facing charges. Hopps, because I know you see things others do not, please explain to me how Dr. Robertson is the Inquisition."

"Only if Nick isn't suspended." Judy defiantly says, causing Nick to sigh.

"Non-Negotiable. It's suspension or desk work without pay for both weeks." Bogo relents, needing to hear what his most proven officer sees.

"Deal. Now. Dr. Robertson works in the morgue, he can easily ink out a few things, change a few words, alleviating him of any suspicion. I've also looked into his past and it shows that from sixteen to twenty-eight he was in the Canadian Army, sixteen to twenty as a reservist and the rest as regular forces. He attempted to join special forces at twenty-five, dropping out due to lack of space in the class and apparent panic attacks, during training he learned commando tactics, he was already a qualified marksman, and he got top of his class at hand to hand combat."

Bogo silently contemplates what he'd just heard, looking between the two. "Hopps, while Wilde is on desk work, you are to trail Robertson, watch him go into work, go back home, it shows he only works weekdays when needed and weekends only in emergencies. Keep it under wraps. Now OUT!"

—————————————————

_Chapters chapters, where will we go from here?_


	2. Merging

**Chapter 1**

The door swings open, the door swings closed, The Inquisition walks into the bar. This wasn't The Grog Bog, it was the opposite, room full of the scum of Zootopia, you only knew how to get in her if you were one sick mammal.

He was safe here and he knew it, the bar had three rules. Pay upfront, tip kindly, and no business inside. The owner had made that clear after two hitmammals arguing over a contract found themselves on Cameron's autopsy table.

"Evenin Inquisition, what brings you in today?" The bartender, an old wolf with an eyepatch over his left eye questions.

"Just got a message for the board." The masked vigilante says, producing a printed sheet of paper.

"Standard reminder that you beat rapists to death with a pipe wrench?" The wolf asks, stepping out from behind the bar and leading the Inquisition over to a simple bristle board with tacked messages on it.

"Oh god no, I'm not a barbaric. I use a tire iron." The inquisition replies, raising his hands defensively.

"What's he doin in here?" A jackrabbit standing near the board says as the two approach.

"Everyone is allowed in Mike. He pays well for cider anyways." The bartender informs.

The conversation is rudely interrupted by the door being opened, and the shrill voice of the _dumbest_ officer of the ZPD ringing out. "ZPD NOBODY MOVE!"

Everyone in the bar quiets down, The only sound heard being the 80s rock being played from a jukebox in the corner as about fifty sets of eyes look at Officer Judy Hopps, But right now only two of them matter.

"Remember old Wilson's rules gents, no business in the bar." The inquisition says, rubbing his forehead as he walks over towards Hopps.

Judy fires a tranquilizer dart at the red clad mammal, the dart simply plinking off of the red suit.

"Cmon Officer, we don't need the ZPDs finest being found dead in a gutter." He continues, brandishing his pistol towards the officer, ushering her out the door with a slam.

"You are under arr-" She begins. Again.

"Shut up. No I mean it. Shhhh and listen. I probably just saved your life. You're not going to arrest me, and if you try, this time I will take you back to Precinct one myself."

"You are u-"

-0-

"_Sometimes I fell I've got to, run away, I've got to, get away from the pain you drive..._"

The ZPDs cruisers were modern and sleek, and had surprisingly great stereos.

"Do you have to play this?" Hopps asks again, now only in her uniform, the rest of her gear resting in the passenger seat.

"Yes, its a classic. By the way what's your callsign?" The inquisition replies.

"Z-191. Robertson, I can clearly tell that it's you under there. Someone is protecting you."

"Officer Hopps, you are one hundred percent correct, but I can assure you that the only thing that you will ever have evidence wise is your word, and that carrot pen ain't gonna help cause I have it right here." Cameron says, holding up the orange recording device in his hand. "I respect your drive, but this is a fight you will _not win._ There are two results from arresting me. One, you sentence me to be shanked in the showers of some prison. Two, crime will go through the roof, it's down because I'm so brutal. I want an honest answer to a question."

"Go for it."

"Say you have a twin sibling, said sibling and you have done everything together, every day, everything. Now, you decide to let's say, join the army reserves, right? Your twin goes to university, meets an excellent mammal, and gets married. Now said marrage was just legalized, some may not agree with it, but you're happy together, nothing else should matter... You get a call at work, you're cleaning the weapons in the vault. Your twin and his wife are dead. Shot by someone who didn't think they should be married. You let your anger get the best of you, you grab one of said guns you were cleaning and go to the hospital to kill the fucker... You almost get to pull the fucking trigger when the cops tackle you to the ground, not letting you get the revenge that is so deserved. You're put in medical custody as you clearly snapped. The next morning the murderer is found dead from a morphine overdose, it seems he was given too much. You are discharged from the army due to your mental break, move to Zootopia and decide to make the world a better place. You start off by simply using an acquired tranquilizer to subdue the criminals, but they get bail and just go right back to what they were doing. So then you get a BB gun and coat the BBs in hot sauce, only makes said criminals madder. So then you get yourself a pistol. You come across a mammal who just stabbed someone in an alley, you get a flashback to your brother and his wife. You put fourteen bullets in the fuckers body. You are now a murderer, you are also a vigilante, you could stop, but it would catch up with you. You could turn yourself in, find yourself bleeding out in a prison shower. Or, you could keep going until your luck runs out. Tell me Officer Hopps, what would you do. Put aside all your training as a cop. As a mammal who had the ability to stop crime and make the city _permanently_ safer. What would you do?"

Judy takes a long time to contemplate her answer, when she finally looks back at the rear view mirror, she doesn't find the shining aviators, she finds the perplexing hazel eyes of a mammal who is locked into a life that he can't escape. "I'd make the city safer."

Cameron just nods, placing his aviators back on his face. "Dispatch, this is The Inquisition. Z-191 tried to arrest me again. She's in the back seat of her cruiser with a colouring book and a juice box." He then turns to Judy. "Nice chat Hopps."

"_Inquisition where is my Officer!_" Comes the voice of Chief Bogo.

"Out front." Cameron simply says, stepping out of the cruiser into the early night, taking a deep breath of the air as he begins to walk down the sidewalk, his paws behind his back.

Cameron walks briskly down the street, once he's out of sight he pulls out his watch, his ace in the hole.

Twisting the dial on the watch, he turns it in a set pattern, finally clicking a button on the side and lowering it to his side.

The traffic camera on First and Main caught what happened next. Blue electricity appeared out of nowhere, spinning around Cameron like an angry thundercloud. After a few seconds, with a thunderclap, the image went white, once it faded out no evidence of Cameron could be seen. Save a new price of street art on a wall next to where he once stood, pictured was Cameron in his inquisition artwork, blue lightning enveloping him.

-0-

The lights in the room are automatically set low, the motion of Cameron walking in setting them off. The room is somewhat expansive, the open room making up the basement of an abandoned aluminium plant on a fifty acre complex that Cameron aquired when the company that owned it went through a merger. The entirety of the property was an airsoft arena that Cameron rented out to groups, parties and at times the Military for operations. He kept a vehicle bay for himself, on the surface was a garage where he restored his Challenger and Shawn's Jeep, and in the basement was his lair.

The enterance was inconspicuous, a simple metal door that was labeled as a storage closet for flammable materials, right now he was keeping motor oil and transmission fluid on top of the trapdoor that lead down into the basement. A simple push to the side and the door was lifted, Cameron descending the steps. The door at the bottom was much more secure, a vault door with three electronic locks.

Cameron walks up to the door, beginning to punch each code in. _One, niner, three, niner. One, niner , six, six. Two, zero, zero, two._

The door emits a ping, and the door is swung open, and swung closed, a identical ping indicating its locking.

The room is nothing impressive, simple and to the point. A wall of firearms, a computer on a desk in the corner, a couch facing a flatscreen on the wall. It was essentially Cameron's home, he rarely slept in his apartment nowadays, it was too open to a pair of certain officers.

-0-

"Nick, he went in there half an hour ago."

The red fox slowly drags his head off the dashboard as he looks through the gates of the facility. "I'm going after him."

Judy opens her mouth to object, failing to get any words out before the door closes and Judy is forced to follow him.

The pair climb over the gate, finding themselves within the expansive property, not a clue where to start looking. The moon crosses the sky slowly as the pair carefully search the property, not finding much except a maintained factory with airsoft pellets everywhere, it's only as the moon reaches the middle of the night sky that the pair find themselves looking at the vehicle bay, the only indication of light a slightly opened garage door with light pouring out.

They treck across an open field, finding themselves next to the open door within minutes, now able to hear the music blasting within the shop, along with the sound of an angle grinder in use.

_Got a photograph, picture of, passion killer, you're too much, you're the only one, I want to touch..._

Judy inches herself under the door, emerging and quickly hiding herself behind a oil drum. The room was simple, a vehicle lift in the center, currently holding Cameron's Challenger, and in the corner a 1980 Ford F-150 with the box removed. The source of the grinding noise was Dr. Hagler who was taking an angle grinder to the rust on the box, while Cameron was seen trying unsuccessfully to remove the Challenger's oil filter.

Nick is seen hiding behind a tool Closet on the opposite side of the garage door, slowly making his way over to the pickup.

Cameron yells something lost to the blasting rock music, grumbles a bit before going and turning the music down a bit.

"_Shawn, where'd you put that broken flathead?_" He is heard asking.

"_Think it's on that oil drum by the door, I was meaning to toss it out._" The grey fox replies as he pauses the grinding, immediately going back to it when he finishes speaking.

Judy begins to panic as she hears the footsteps of Cameron approach her, coming to a hault on the opposite side of the barrels.

"It ain't here." Cameron yells across the room.

"_Might have fallen behind it._"

Judy immediately looks for an escape path, knowing may move she makes will have her caught by the wolf.

"Hey, what the-" She barely hears over the pain of a paw grabbing her ear and ripping her from her cover. "Hopps, THE HELL ARE YOU DOING ON MY PROPERTY? Shawn! Call the ZPD!" Robertson roars, not noticing Nick yet.

Judy accepts defeat as she sees Hagler flip up his mask and pull out a cell phone as Robertson goes on a tirade. Suddenly, a tranquilizer dart hits Hagler in the neck, thephone slipping out of his grasp as he stumbles out of view, eventually falling flat on his back with his feet sticking into view.

"Put the officer down!" Nick yells, a tranquilizer gun leveled at Cameron.

"YOURE TRESSPASSING ON MY PROPERTY AND JUST SHOT MY FUCKING ROOMATE, I'M USING HER AS A SHIELD SO YOU DONT TRANQUILIZE ME AND RUN OFF!" He yells back, slowly backing over to where Shawn was, holding Judy infront of him.

The standoff continues over to where Shawn was standing, Judy can see that under the shattered screen of Shawn's phone, he had managed to call 911 and it was still on the line, when her attention turns back upwards, Cameron is hunched over Shawn, grabbing something from his waist and holding it towards Nick.

"NOW DROP THE TRANQUILIZER OR I'LL SHOOT IN SELF DEFENCE!" He yells. Judy looks to her right to find a SIG P226 in his hand, but she can clearly see that the safety is still on.

"Nick the safety's on!" She suddenly blurts out, to which she hears a click.

"DROP. THE. TRANQUILIZER." Cameron orders, the sound of sirens growing louder.

From Cameron's view.

My eyes dart between Judy and Nick, knowing I can't shoot first for it to be considered self defence I wait, knowing they can't be caught here so Nick will shoot first.

"Robertson?" Nick asks, a sly grin on his face.

"What?" I ask, suddenly feeling the prick of a tranquilizer in my shoulder.

***BANG* *BANG*** I pull the trigger in Nicks general direction twice, before I feel the pistol fall out of my grasp and clatter to the floor. I can see Nick clutching something, blood seeping through his fingers as I begin to decend into the black, Judy falling free from my grasp as well.

I fall to my knees, still having a slight bit of awareness remaining as I see the pair rush out of the garage. I'm not even aware that I'm watching them sideways, having fallen to the floor as I drift off.

"_Sir, can you hear me? Hello SIR! Sir wake up!_" I hear from what sounds like kilometres away. The black around me shifting rapidly, turning to grey and slowly towards white.

"Sir!" I hear again, now directly infront of me as I open my eyes, finding myself looking at an EMT who I can't recognize.

I slowly sit up, taking in my surroundings. I'm still on the floor of the garage, half a dozen cops around me. Through the open garage door I can see it's now early morning, so I've been out for a good few hours.

"The hell happened?" I ask, my eyes slightly burning with the light.

"You were tranquilized, by who and why I don't know. Officer?" He continues, turning towards an officer near him.

The tigress walks over, crouching next to me. "Ah Doctor Robertson, great to see you're awake." She says, a warm smile on her face.

"How you doing Jessica?" I ask, trying to rub a headache away.

"Not too bad, so how'd you get here?"

"Well, officers Hopps and Wilde decided to turn up unannounced. Wilde tranquilized Shawn, so I used Hopps as a shield as I tried to move myself towards an exit, accidentally backing myself into a corner. I got to Shawn, grabbed his SIG, and held it towards Wilde in my own defence."

"Did you intend to shoot him."

"Not at that point, but after Hopps pointed out that the safety was still on, my hand was forced, and I knew I was going to have to shoot at him at some point, which I did after he got a tranquilizer in my shoulder."

"How many times?"

"Two, three? Can't remember, you know I have cameras in here right?"

"Yea, I just wanted to see how good your memory was." She grins, offering a hand, which I accept, pulling myself to my feet.

"So where's Shawn?" I ask, scanning the shop.

"Getting High outside."

"Yea. Hey where's Manning, don't you two have an hourly make out session you should be at?" I jest before wandering off towards the door, noticing a trail of blood drips leading outside.

-0-

"Judy, I'm fine, and we got out of there before backup arrived." Nick insists, clutching bandages around the top of his ear. "The two shots he took were reactionary, badly aimed and not calculated, its a wonder he hit me at all."

"_All officers, be on the lookout for Z-191 and Z-219, they are both wanted for tresspassing and two counts of assault and battery._" The radio crackles, the pair of officers looking at it in horror.

"I'll have it known for the record we did no such things." Nick says, keying the mic on the radio.

"_We have the security camera footage Wilde! Announce your position immediately!_"

"Real slick Nick." Judy grumbles, knowing they could play it off.

-0-

Shawn let's the butt of his blunt burn his fingers before he drops it, letting it drown in a small puddle. "So how long till our lawyer drops the charges?"

"Long enough for the pair of em to end up in a holding cell." Cameron replies before taking a long drag of his blunt as he listens to Shawn.

"How far are you planning on going?"

"However far they push me. Simple tresspassing is alright, Wilde shot me so I shot him. Now if they decide to go outside the law. I can't promise if Bogo will meet them on a gurney or a morgue slab."

"Jesus Christ, here we are, talking about killing cops. It's almos..." Shawn continues, being interrupted by a beeping from Cameron's wrist. "My beacons working?"

Cameron replies with a nod, twisting the dial as he draws his Hi-Power.

"What is it?"

"Murder, Third and Main, Hit." Cameron relays, the dial clicking and a flash of blue appearing infront of them, when it fades a confused jackal is in its place.

"Hi mate. Bye mate." Cameron says, raising the pistol and putting two bullets in the jackal's chest, before walking over the body and putting a final bullet in his head. "What day is it?"

"Tuesday."

"Sweet, dumpster gets emptied today." He says, grabbing one of the jackal's arms and dragging the corpse off.

Shawn feels a buzzing in his pocket and produces his phone. His grin dropping as he looks at the screen. "Dear sweet baby Jesus no."

-0-

Later in the day and across town, in Nick's apartment the dynamic duo were finally finding time away from work, enjoying their time together. The apartment was dark, the only illumination from the TV, where an old WWII movie was playing, this one about a destroyer and a submarine in a fight. Nick was seated on the couch facing the TV, while Judy had her legs proped on top of Nick's knees, then both occasionally grabbing popcorn from a bowl on Judy's stomach.

The simplistic interaction was soothing to the two of them, to everyone else it was just two friends watching a movie on their time off, but they knew exactly what it was.

The ringing of a cell phone makes Nick roll his eyes, pausing the movie as Judy produces a cell phone and picks up the video call.

"Hey mom, hey dad!" She says, smiling at the screen where two older bunnies could be seen.

"Hey Jude the dude, how's it going." Her father cheerfully asks.

"Could be better, Nick and I are just watching a movie to get our minds off of the case we're currently working on."

"It's that vigilante isn't it! Mammals have zero respect for the law anymore." Bonnie suddenly blirts out, Judy exchanging a glance giving the old doe credit where credit was due.

"You know too well mom that I can't talk about it. Only what's public is allowed to be discussed."

"Is it true that Nick got shot?" Bonnie asks, somewhat considered, after a little warming between Nick and her parents, Judy caught her mother staring to care for the vulpine.

Judy turns the camera to show Nick tapping into his phone, a bandage visible on the top of his left shoulder. He gives a little wave and a smile.

"Yea, my tenacity made us accidentally tresspass on private property, the owner mistook us for robbers and fired a few rounds at us." Judy says, not showing any hint that she was bending the truth.

"Tell him were sending him a blueberry pie, love you sweetie." The pair say, ending the call.

"Blueberry pie?" Nick asks, looking like a giddy toddler.

"You dumb fox."

"_Your _dumb fox."

"Are you my dumb fox?" Judy asks, leaning over to Nick and giving him a kiss. "Yes you are."

-0-

Chief Bogo sighs, looking at the three other mammals in the room. One was Logan White, Hangler and Robertson's lawyer. The second was Oscar Liamson, police commissioner, and the third was the intermittent mayor, the head of the city council holding the seat until the next election.

"Mr. White, are you dropping _all_ charges on my officers?" Liamson asks, looking at the dingo.

"Yes Comissioner. My clients want the charges dropped." Logan says, an unlit cigarette between his teeth - something he showed was allowed by showing the bylaws saying only lit cigarettes were prohibited inside government buildings.

"Thank you, you may leave." Bogo says, the dingo nodding and heading for the door. The door is waited to be closed before he continues. "They're playing us." Bogo sighs, rubbing his forehead.

"The officers must still be punished." The mayor says, getting a glare from both the other mammals.

"And tarnish the name of our poster officers?" The comissioner asks, his paws covering his face as he leans back in his seat.

Outside the office. White was making his way down the stairs, quickly punching a number into his cell phone.

"Hello?" Comes the other end of the line.

"Is this Judith Hopps?" White asks, spinning around and leaning on the door of the Precinct to open it, letting it slide off his back as he begins down the concrete steps.

"It is. Who is this?"

"Not your main issue currently. You will be outside your partners apartment in five minutes, we need to have a chat. Red 1979 Toyota Hilux." White replies before ending the call, sliding his phone in his pocket and grabbing his car keys.

The truck sputters to life, and White pulls it out of the somewhat spotty parallel parking job he did, almost killing a panther in a hatchback, who flips him off and speeds off.

Several minutes later, Judy was on the curb infront of Nick's apartment building, Nick next to her while they wait.

"So why would Robertson's lawyer call you?" Nick asks for what was probably one time too many, prompting Judy to deliver a punch to his gut, producing a whimper as he takes a step back to hunch over in pain.

Judy's attention is turned back forwards as she hears a vehicle pull up and brake. She didn't expect to find the dingo in a suit, driving a half rusted pickup truck.

"What's this about White?" Judy prods, hopping up to talk into the passenger window.

"Have something we need to talk about. Wilde you can come, but you'll be in the bed." The Australian replies, tapping his cigarette outside the window before replacing it in his mouth. Nick and Judy exchange a glance, nonverbally exchanging something before Judy swings the door open and hops into the seat.

White shifts the truck into first, pulling back into traffic. The pair drive through the streets, White looking in the rear view mirror every now and then. He finally flicks his butt out the window and begins to speak.

"Don't speak until I am completely finished. Understand?" He asks, waiting for Judy to nod before he continues. "Cameron is going to take the violence a step down due to a conversation he had with an unnamed individual. He's going to decrease his patrols every week till he's only doing half of what he used too"

"What can I do to help?" Judy asks, still bothered by White constantly checking the mirror.

"Ready the ZPD, as Cameron begins to slow down, the- Glovebox, now." White says, seeing something in the mirror.

Judy opens the glovebox to unveil a pistol, which she quizzical looks at before she hears a gunshot and the ping of a bullet somewhere on the vehicle.

White suddenly leans over, grabbing the weapon. "GRAB THE WHEEL!"

Judy suddenly grabs the wheel, swerving through traffic as White hammers on the gas, at the same time he leans out the window, having racked the pistol he levels it in one hand towards a chasing motorcycle, letting off a volley of shots that causes the motorcycle to fall over, it's previous occupant laying in the street either injured or dead.

"THE FUCK WAS THAT?" Judy yells as White takes back the wheel and sets the pistol in his lap.

"I'm on several legal documents with the fake name, they tried to take my ass alive to get information this morning." He replies, seeing red and blue lights in the rear view mirror.

He brings the truck to the side of the road. The officer stepping out of their vehicle and yelling at White.

"Is that a real officer?" He asks, gripping the pistol.

Judy spied a glance through the rear window, seeing the forms of a tigress and red deer, she nods.

White racks the pistol, removing the clip and holding it out the window by the barrel, using his other hand he opens the door from the outside, stepping out and tossing it behind him he takes two steps back and kneels, interlocking his hands on the back of his head.

One of the officers moves and cuffs the dingo, while the other moves to the vehicle, where Judy is still seated, her hands in the air.

"Hopps?" Comes the feminine voice of the deer, who lowers her pistol and moves into the light of a street lamp.

"Yea Manning, it's me." She replies, slowly lowering her hands.

Manning looks over the bed of the truck, finding White being hauled to his feet and pressed against the truck by Officer Fowler. "Jessica." She says, attracting the attention of both the officer and lawyer. "That's Cameron's lawyer and Hopps is in the car."

Jessica looks between Logan and Manning, glancing at Hopps and back again. Finally she sighs, looking at the second cruiser that just skidded to a stop, the pair of officer getting out.

"Sydney, cuff Hopps, we can deal with this at the station."

-0-

"What is your name?"

"Logan White.

"Birthdate?"

"August 27th, 1986."

"Address?"

"Get to the point mate."

"Please explain the events prior to your arrest this evening."

"I have been the target of several hitmanmals in the past, I simply defended myself from yet another one."

"Do you know who would want to bring you harm?"

"Yea, tons of lads, I'm a lawyer, making enemies of people is part of my work. I have a trail of em all over this city and across the Pacific."

"Do you know which one of them it was this time?"

"Recently it's been from a bloke I helped put away for fraud, embezzlement, blah, blah, blah."

"Name?"

"Cameron Kingsman."

"His residence?"

"Brisbane, Australia."

"You do realize you could have killed someone right?"

"Did I not kill the bloke coming after me?"

-0-

The sound of banging bars jostles Judy from her slumber, she raises her head to find the door to the cell she'd been sharing with White open, the officer on duty waiving them out.

"Bails been posted." He says, pointing at the pair.

"Who?" Judy asks, starting to feel guilty.

"Hopps, yours was anonymous, had a note saying that you wouldn't expect it, White, well, she's outside."

"Please don't be my mother, please don't be my mother." White begins chanting, looking at the ceiling as he walks towards the door.

"The inquisition paid my bail?" Judy asks, following White at a good distance.

"Mhm, paid it in full, note said they you were no use to the city in jail, also left another note addressed to Bogo."

The pair have idle conversation as they approach the lobby, when all of a sudden a scream goes out making everyone freeze.

"LOGAN JOHNATHAN WHITE!" Comes the feminine scream, causing White to spin on his heel and begin to run back towards the pair of officers.

"Not mom, It's WORSE!" He yells, using the rhinoceros as a shield.

At the end of the hallway, a kangaroo slide into view, glaring daggers at the officers, they both recognize her as the owner of their favourite bar.

"Where." She says, to which the rhino takes a step to the side, revealing White.

"Logan. Here. Now."

White whimpers slightly, slowly sulking towards his furious girlfriend.

"Hi Olivia." He says, tempting a smile.

"Logan, be honest with me. What the _fuck_ is going on?"

"That's best explained after a drink, and not in a police station."

—————


	3. Accelerating

**Chapter 2**

"The cause of death is ultimately blood loss, he suffered two gunshots, one to the stomach from the front, and by the blood on his hands, arms and the floor, he tried to move himself, a second bullet entering his back below the shoulders, shattering his spine and traveling through his left lung, lodging in the floor below him. Second bullet ended any survival if he wasn't helped immediately, he was left to bleed out after he was shot."

"What about these ones doctor?" Fangmeyer asks, glaring at Wolford who is wandering around the room.

"The rest are similar, less prolonged, bullets finding arteries or major organs quicker, three with a single bullet to the head or two to the upper body and one to the head." The polar bear explains, pointing at gurneys.

"Mozambique drill, two to the chest one to the head. Why'd this one guy be special?"

"Last round in a magazine, bad aim, needed information, too many reasons, none of them having any effect on the end result."

"You have any idea type of gun used?" Wolford asks, peering through a door.

"Not my expertise, Robertson is good with guns, you're actually in front of his office if you want to knock."

Wolford raises an eyebrow, rapping his knuckles on the door, a muffled 'enter' comes from the opposite, and he opens the door.

"Doctor Robertson?"

Cameron looks up from the submarine sandwich he was midway through eating, nodding at the seats opposite him as he takes another bite and sets the sandwich down.

"I'm going to move these back to the morgue if they are unneeded." Tornakov informs, leaning in the doorway as Fangmeyer takes her seat.

"Go right ahead, thank you doctor." Fangmeyer responds, before turning back towards the white canine opposite her. "Your coworker said you were better with gunshot victims?"

"Yea, was in the army, and take this with a grain of salt, I know you guys have your own techs that can do this better, my unprofessional opinion is a pistol, probably .45 caliber, wounds are too big for a nine mil, and from my experience, if you want minimal rounds expended for best results, 45 works great. There's three bodies, eight rounds total, so seven to shoot the first two Mozambique style, one to wound the third, and one to finish the job. I'd say seven round clip, so M1911 maybe. Again, _unprofessional opinion._"

The pair of officers nod, exchanging a few thanks before beginning their way out of the office. Cameron rubs his hands together and pulls his sandwich back infront of him, picking half of it up and going to take a bite wheeeen...

"ROBERTSON!" Comes the sound of a very angry Rabbit.

Cameron sighs, setting the sandwich back down and sliding it to his left, leaning on his elbows as he listens to the small stomps approach his line of view.

"Where's the fire Hopps?" Cameron asks, the grey bunny slamming the door behind her after she enters the office.

"I thought you said you had values." She accuses, jumping onto the seat opposite Cameron, a look of fury on her face.

"Morals yes. Get to the point." Cameron replies, sitting back, his eyebrows slightly raised.

Judy jumps onto the desk, grabbing the Arctic Wolf by the collar of his shirt, pointing at the bodies being wheeled away outside the office. "Zero criminal histories, all of them."

Cameron slaps Judy on the forehead, grabbing her hand and twisting it upside-down, her body instinctively following the twist to avoid major damage. He realseases her hand, pointing at the seat and waiting for her to move.

"Those guys outside weren't me. You know I use a Hi-Power, hell you have the damn rifling marks from every single bullet you've pulled out of my targets. There are seven hollow point 45 APC rounds from those bodies and an eighth somewhere in a floor. I use 9mm full metal jacket. Least amount of damage, more power, cleaner wounds, better chance of living if they need to live."

"Alright, any idea who it could have been?" Judy asks, seeing the reasoning and calming down, her ears slumped back behind her head.

"Probably a drug deal gone bad, I stopped bye right before ZPD showed up last night, found a brick of coke."

"How do you know it's coke, we don't even know it's coke."

"Did a line, man it was good shit."

Judy just stands there, her ears twitching as she seems to contemplate what Cameron just said. He takes advantage of this, not breaking eye contact as he slides his sandwich over and takes a bit out of it.

"YOU DID COCAINE?" She practically explodes, two sets of ears still visible outside the office.

-0-

"Boss we got the kid!" A masked badger yells, two similarly masked mammals behind him, dragging a mammal, black bag over their head.

"Is it the right one, or did you just grab the first kid you found?" A hyena asks, her eyes on the trio as they seat the cop in a metal folding chair.

"The right one." The mammal confesses, diverting his gaze.

"Ransoms a ransom, Lex, go get ready to make the call." She orders, waiving a mammal off to the side away.

-0-

Bogo fumbles with his keys, mumbleing something as he finally gets the right key, unlocking his front door and stepping inside.

"Amy, Kira, I'm home!" Bogo yells into the house, the face of a female Cape buffalo appearing at the end of the hall.

"Kira is over at Max's house working on a science project, she should be on her way home now." She informs, ducking her head back out of view once she finishes.

"Alright, did the electric and water bills come yet?" He replies, taking off his rain jacket and hanging it on a hook.

"No, the company said if it doesn't arrive by Friday we don't have to pay for this month."

"Let's hope it's late!"

Bogo loosens his tie as he walks through the house, emerging in the kitchen and sitting down on a stool at the island in the kitchen.

"How was work today?" He asks, grabbing an orange from a basket on the island.

"Not bad, had the pleasure of meeting Mr. White again."

"I've had a few interactions with him recently as well, what's your story?"

"Well, he was representing a group of factory workers who were claiming that their workplace was lacking safety regulations to such an extreme, the company covered up the death of a mammal who died on the job, on the other side, the company, with its panel of lawyers, argued that there were no such lapses in safety. White pulls out evidence that he'd collected over time, lays out meetings with every single one of the company and factory workers, all the way up to the regional manager, 90 percent of them all signing binding statements that there was serious issues with safety. The company disputes this, but then White, with a smug grin, shows the signed statement from one of the lawyers on the company's panel."

"You rule in the workers favour?"

"No, they went to settle out of court, they'll be back tomorrow to see if it's going to be out of court or not. What was your interaction?"

"Hopps thought she had the identity of The Inquisition, got a warrant, kicked the door down, this guy strolls up after being called, calls the idiot Wilde out on illegally searching the apartment where the suspect was, cause it wasn't his apartment. Yadda yadda, Hopps does something stupid, charges against her dropped. He's taking us on a wild ride due to the link Hopps drew between the suspect and Inquisition."

"You know more, I can see the glint in your eyes."

"If it tell you, it doesn't leave this room, for it?" Bogo asks, his wife nodding in reply. "She's got the right guy, I know the Vigilante's identity. I knew from day one. No I'm not telling you, and no I'm not aiding and abetting because I couldn't stop him if I wanted to. The guy has his mind in the right place, are his methods the best? No. Does he get the job done? Yes, absolutely, the jails are filled and crime is down, I'm not complaining. He explained it to me like this. He could do it, keep it down, save the city money, while we follow his trail looking for him and cleaning up the mess, or we could do to all, crime goes back up, costs the city more."

The two sit in silence for a few seconds, both evaluating what has been spoken.

"I trust your judgment, if this guy was bad news he'd have been behind bars by now." Amy Bogo says, before realizing something and looking at her watch. "Kira isn't home yet, it's a five minute walk and it's been thirty since she said she'd be home."

"Could still be working on her project, I'll call Mr. Uzuko to see if she's still there." Bogo says, standing from his chair and going back over to his raincoat to grab his phone, finding a missed call and voicemail already there.

Bogo calls the voicemail, entering his password and putting his phone to his ear to listen.

"_Adrian Bogo, you will call this number as soon as you receive this message, you wouldn't want Kira being hurt._" The buffalo remains calm as he message ends and he ends the call, quickly hitting the call button as he steps outside and closes the door.

"_Bogo?_"

"What do you want, Where is my daughter, and if you hurt her I'll rip you limb from limb."

"_Straight to the point, I like that. 3.5 million, delivered to the Bus Station in Sahara Square, left infront of the blue dumpster. Proof of life will be presented via video call shortly._"

The line goes dead and Bogo moves the phone away from his face, a muzzle time call coming in within seconds, he picks it up, finding a video of his daughter behind a glass wall, seated at a table with a microwave meal infront of her.

"As you can see she is being treated well. You have until midnight."

The line goes dead again, and Bogo looks at the blank phone, pondering his next moves.

_I call the ZPD and they will take all night, I pay the money and there is no guarantee that they will honour the deal. God damnit, I have to finally use that fucking number._

The story that Bogo told his wife was true, he just left out one thing. Cameron has left Bogo a number that he could call if he needed assistance, zero questions asked, it could be as above the radar or below the radar as he wanted.

"Inquisition_._" Cameron picks up with, sounding like he's eating something

"Robertson." Bogo simply says, hoping his voice is enough.

Cameron suddenly stops chewing what he was eating, quickly swallowing before speaking again.

"Who, Where, What?"

"Daughter kidnapped. 3.5 Million, blue dumpster behind the Bus Station in Sahara Square before midnight."

"Alert the ZPD that your daughter was kidnapped, do not tell them the details, I'll drop the cash off and follow the money, I have a friend who can trace the call and send it to you. Call every thirty minutes or if they contact you again."

The line goes dead, and Bogo dials the one number he's used to picking up.

"_911 what's your emergency?_"

-0-

"SHAWN! TRACE THE LAST FIVE CALLS TO CHIEF BOGOS CELL PHONE" Cameron yells, the burner phone that was once in his hand clattering on the floor as he runs through the underground base, sliding into the armoury.

Cameron quickly grabs a SKS and duffel bag. Running out of the armoury with the rifle on his back, he opens the oversized duffel bag and opens a keypad lock on another door, swinging it open to reveal piles of cash in various currencies, all counterfeit, but no mammal alive could tell them apart, computers could though, so the second they go to deposit the money, Bang fake money.

Cameron throws exactly 3.5 million dollars of fake 100$ US bills into the duffel bag, cursing as he lifts the sixty pound bag and exiting the room, locking it behind him.

"One to you, three from a burner phone somewhere downtown, and one to his wife." Shawn says as Cameron passes him heading for the door.

"Call me when you can narrow it down!"

One drive downtown later, Cameron is seated on a vantage point overlooking the drop point, the duffel bag having been left there by a college student Cameron paid fifty bucks.

Cameron picks his phone up with a text from Shawn with the address the calls were made from. Cameron quickly forwards that to Bogo before standing and moving there himself.

He answers a call over his Bluetooth headset as he continues to parkour his way to the address.

"Is this the location?"

"That's where the calls came from, I'm headed there myself right now. Don't call the Calvary yet, but get them ready to move. I promise I won't kill all of them if they don't shoot at me."

After about thirty minutes of parkour, Cameron reaches the roof of the address, an abandoned warehouse storage center, below him he scans the building through a skylight, finding a teenage Cape buffalo seated in a folding metal chair inside a metal cage off in a corner while three mammals stand nearby counting the cash, another dozen milling around.

Cameron sends the go text to Bogo before sneaking in the skylight, dragging himself along a beam in the rafters until he reaches the wall behind the cage, slowly decending to the floor.

"_Pssst_" he whispers to the teenage buffalo.

The buffalo turns and Cameron puts a finger to his bandana, indicating silence. The buffalo nods.

"_Get in the corner behind that beam, if bullets start flying cover your ears and put your head in the dirt, ZPD is on its way._" The vigilante whispers, before drawing his SkS and quietly loading a bullet.

He emerges from the shadows, kneecapping the trio counting cash, before turning his aim towards an armed guard, pushing a bullet in his right shoulder.

"ALLROGHT, DROP THE GUNS AND YOU DONT GET CAPPED!" He yells, several gangsters running for a door, only to find that Cameron had barraceded all except the one leadinging to the street.

Cameron puts a bullet in the leg of an alpaca who turned with a shotgun, and another in a jackal who charged Cameron with a knife.

Several gangsters draw weapons and guns behind cover, finding that Cameron just shoots the poles or walls, shrapnel from the impacts injuring them as sirens appear outside.

Cameron shoots a grenade in the hand of an elephant, before putting three in each leg of the large mammal. As the front door gets kicked in, several SWAT team member barging in as Cameron bashes the stock of his rifle into the nose of a koala.

Cameron's eye turns back to the cage where the hostage was, finding a leopard holding a gun to the mammals head as he drags her away, several SWAT officers yelling at them to stop.

Cameron quickly scales one of the storage containers, running along its roof and jumping off, tackling the mammal to the ground, his rifle being knocked away in the process, Cameron and the leopard get to their feet, circling each other as SWAT and officers block they escape for the pair.

"Cmon bub, make the first swing." Cameron taunts, the leopard charging, Cameron simply drawing his Hi-Power and putting a bullet in his leg while he's still halfway between his starting point and Cameron.

Cameron spins to face the officers and SWAT, giving a bow.

"All right, hands up." One of them says.

Cameron let's out a good laugh, asking the leopard on the ground if he thinks that's a good joke before ending the laugh.

"It's been a pleasure ladies and gents." He simply says, drawing a grenade and pulling the pin. "You know the drill, attack me and the grenade drops, I'll be leaving now."

With that Cameron raises his watch, twisting the dial and giving a mock salute before the lightning snaps him out of existence.

The grenade still drops, and after a scramble by everyone left, it doesn't blow up.

"GUYS ITS A FAKE, NOW PLEASE GET ME TO A DOCTOR!" The leopard screams, still clutching his leg.

-0-

"_Last night thirty-seven people were shot and killed and over sixty wounded when a lone gunman opened fire on a hockey game in Vancouver, not much I'd known at this time, but it is known from cellphone video that we will not show you, that the shooter acted on racist and homophobic views. RCMP say they will release information as they see fit, and the names of the deceased will be either released by family or not at all._"

Cameron shudders while watching the TV, quickly pulling a laptop to his front and opening it. He types a few lines into a hacking program, the RCMP database popping up.

_Let's see... Thirty-year-old from Montana, crossed the border illegally into Alberta, shot a Vancouver police officer thirty minutes before the shooting. Three guns used, two modified assault rifles and a semi-automatic shotgun._

Cameron slams the laptop shut, shaking his head back in forth as he sports a grin. "America, you just fucked up _royally_, an American just committed a mass shooting in another country, you are officially indirectly sponsoring mass murder in foreign countries, aka _terrorism_. Oh man, this is gonna blow up in your face reallll quick." Cameron says to the empty room, tossing the laptop beside him and stretching as he stands from his seat.

He scratches his chin as he grabs the keys to his Challenger off of a table and strolls off towards the door, scrolling through something on his phone as he swings it closed behind him.

Decending the stairs, he swipes a keycard to unlock the door to the parking garage, grumbling as it takes him a few swipes before the door unlocks. Walking through the garage his phone starts buzzing, which prompts him to pull it out and put it to his ear.

"Cameron Robertson." He simply says, unlocking the door of his muscle car.

"Mr. Robertson, are you currently available?" Comes the voice of Chief Bogo.

"I have dinner with some friends at seven, but I'm free till then." He replies, starting the car and leaning back in the seat.

"Please stop by the station, and please come alone." Bogo says before the line goes dead.

"Hm." Cameron hums, looking at the phone. "Looks like I'm either getting arrested or getting a hug."

He shrugs, plugging his phone into the stereo system and shifting the car into first, pulling out of his parking spot and heading towards the exit.

As he pulls out into the street, he hits shuffle on his phone, smiling as the song begins to play.

He clears his throat, beginning to sing along.

"We had broken up for good just an hour before,Ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah.And now I'm staring at the bodies as they're dancing 'cross the floor.Ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah.And then the band slowed the tempo, and the music gets you down.Ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah.It was the same old song, with a melancholy sound.Ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah.

They don't write 'em like that anymore.They just don't write 'em like that anymore.

We'd been living together for a million years,Ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah.But now it feels so strange out of the atmospheres.Ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah.And then the jukebox plays a song I used to know.Ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah.And now I'm staring at the bodies as they're dancing so slow.Ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah.

They don't write 'em like that anymore.They don't write 'em like that anymore.

Now I'm winding up staring at an empty glassAh ah ah ah ah ah ah ah.Cause it's so easy to say that you'll forget your past.Ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah.

They don't write 'em like that anymore.No, they just don't write 'em like that anymore.Oh, they don't write 'em like that anymore.They just don't write 'em like that anymore.They just don't, no they don't, no no, uh-uh,They just don't write 'em like that anymore.They just don't..."

He swerves to avoid a parked bank truck as the song ends, accidentally drifting around the next corner. Laughing he continues the drift around there next corner before hammering the throttle into the freeway as the next song begins.

"On the street where you live girls talk about their social livesThey're made of lipstick, plastic and paintA touch of sable in their eyes

All your life all you askedWhen is your Daddy gonna talk to youBut we're living in another worldTryin' to get your message through

No one heard a single word you saidThey should have seen it in your eyesWhat was going around your head

Oh, she's a little runawayDaddy's girl learned fastAll those things he couldn't sayOoh, she's a little runaway

A different line every nightGuaranteed to blow your mindSee you out on the streetsCall me for a wild timeSo you sit home alone'Cause there's nothing left that you can doThere's only pictures hung in the shadowsLeft there to look at you

You know she likes the lightsAt night on the neon Broadway signsAnd she don't really mindIts only love she hoped to find

Oh, she's a little runawayDaddy's girl learned fastAll those things he couldn't sayOoh, she's a little runaway

No one heard a single word you saidThey should have seen it in your eyesWhat was going on your head

Oh, she's a little runawayDaddy's girl learned fastAll those things he couldn't sayOoh, she's a little runaway"

Smiling, he looks into the rear view mirror to find a Zootopia Highway Patrol motorbike blaring his lights after him. His smile fades as he looks at the speedometer, finding the dial saying he was going thirty over the limit.

Grumbling all the way, he pulls into the center median of the highway, choosing to not pull though three lanes of traffic to the median.

He leans back in his chair as he cranks the parking brake on, watching the cop dismount the bike and talk on the radio. After a minute or two, the officer begins to walk up to the window, the cheetah having to crouch to be able to speak into the window.

"Do you know how fast you were going sir?" She asks, Cameron clearly seeing his reflection in the aviator sunglasses.

"When I saw the lights I was going one thirty sooooo." He replies.

"Licence, registration, proof of insurance please."

Cameron reaches across to the glovebox, opening it and rummaging around inside. After a second he tosses a Glock and a Colt onto the passenger seat, eventually finding the papers and handing them over to the officer.

"Sir do you have any other firearms in the vehicle?" The officer asks, presumably eyeing the pistols.

Thirty Minutes later, Cameron is seated on the median, three highway patrol officer standing infront of him.

"Okay, three pistols in the glove box. Sawn off shotgun behind the passenger seat, revolver under the driver's seat, pistol in the driver's door, two rifles and what looks like a RPG in the trunk, and a battle rifle under the hood. Is that _all_ of the firearms in the vehicle?" The cheetah asks once again.

"Did you not see the Kalashnakov taped to the roof?" Cameron questions, scratching his chin with his handcuffed hands.

One of the officers sighs, leaning into the car and pulling the AK-74u that Cameron had duct taped to the roof out.

"Is that all the weapons?"

"No that's just the firearms, I know I have a few knives in there, and there should be a Claymore under the carpet in the trunk."

"Fucking _fuck_!" One of the officers yells, tossing his hands up in defeat.

——————


	4. The Fast Lane

**Chapter 3**

_The correct term is distracted and occupied, not dead. The author is most definitely alive and well, not risen from the grave after a grizzly death involving a rubber chicken, two pickup trucks, and a 30 gallon barrel of lube._

_————_

_"I saw the light in the sunrise Sittin' back in the 40 on the muddy riverside Gettin' baptized in holy water and shine With the dogs runnin' Saved by the sound of the been found Dixie whistled in the wind, that'll get you Heaven bound The devil went down to Georgia but he didn't stick around This is God's country (God's country) Yeah, I saw the light in the sunrise Sittin' back in the 40 on the muddy riverside Gettin' baptized in holy water and shineWith the dogs runnin' Saved by the sound of the been found Dixie whistled in the wind, that'll get you Heaven bound The Devil went down to Georgia but he didn't stick around This is God's country..."_

Dust is kicked into the air by the Ford F-550 Duelie Pickup roaring down the road, the several occupants all occupying different tasks.

Behind the wheel of the truck, Olivia Chow is focusing on the road, curving the vehicle around the occasional corners to avoid rocks and boulders in the landscape. To her right is her wonderful boyfriend Logan White, who is passed out, his head at an odd angle against the seat.

In the back seat, Shawn Hagler is laying down, a baseball cap pushed up on his head as he hammers away at the laptop on his chest.

In the bed of the pickup, Cameron Robertson is leaning against the cab of the truck, a WWII German helmet on his head as he eats some party mix and watches the traffic on the highway.

The reason for their travel is the object being towed by the truck. An antique German 88. The infamous weapon that was feared across the western front. And Olivia has found one intact, had it shipped to the port of Zootopia, and was now towing it to a plot of land Cameron owned upstate to fire it along with assorted weapons the four mammals owned.

Cameron watches as two older coyotes pass by in a sedan, eyeing the 88 and giving Cameron a thumbs up as he continues to shovel party mix into his face. His attention turns rearward, where a California Highway Patrol car has been following them for several miles, presumably finding out the legality of A. Cameron being in the bed of the truck with a military helmet on. And B. The 88 they were towing.

A few car lengths behind the cruiser, Cameron again sees the now familiar faces of Arron Wolford and Laura Fangmeyer in a sedan, Arron passed out in the passenger seat as Laura drives. He'd already established that it wasn't an undercover vehicle, so they definitely weren't on the clock. Probably following them on their free time.

Cameron notices that they'd pulled off the highway, now pulling into a gas station, CHP cruiser and off duty cops still in tow.

Cameron stands and stretches, hopping out of the truck and stretching once again.

"Mate, Nice you're wearing a helmet, but you can't be riding in the bed of the truck." One of the officers informs, beginning to pump gas into her cruiser.

"I need to keep an eye on the hitch, it's old and the latch likes topic off, don't need a 88 seerving into opposite lanes after the hitch came flying off." Cameron replies, going to enter the gas station.

Inside the station, several mammals are watching the news, currently reporting on a category five hurricane headed straight for Zootopia, due to arrive in the next day or two.

"I'd stay out of town if I could." Logan complains, walking off towards the bathrooms.

"We all have to be back in gown tonight, Olivia and you are volunteer firefighters and Shawn and I have to board up one of our buildings that ain't up to code."

Logan just shrugs, walking behind a rack of snacks. Cameron turns back towards the drink coolers, grabbing a glass bottle of ginger ale and buying it. He walks out the door of the gas station, finding the sedan that had been trailing them parked next to the building.

-0-

"Arron quit whining." Laura says, slumped behind the wheel, watching The Timberwolf in the passenger seat.

"I've had to piss for the last twenty miles."

"If you go in there they will see you, if you wait till they leave we'll loose them, they can't be going further then this. I know for a fact you need a permit if your taking weapons over state lines, and if they get back on the highway they will be forced to go into Oregon."

The pair are interrupted by the rear door of their vehicle being opened, and someone sitting in the back. Both mammals turn their heads to find Cameron drinking a ginger ale.

"Go take your piss Arron, they clearly have already seen us." Laura says, turning further to get a clear view of Cameron.

Arron scurries out of the car, hobbling into the gas station.

"What gave us away?"

"You sat three car lengths behind us for eighty miles, by mile twenty I'd established that it was you in the car."

Cameron's phone buzzes, and he quickly shoots a reply, the pickup and 88 pulling out of the gas station shortly after.

"So what you following us for, work or pleasure?"

"Pleasure, we owed Judy a favour."

"That is one determined officer."

"I mean she's right. You sound exactly like the Inquisition."

It's at this point that Arron slides back into the passenger seat, two drinks in hand.

Laura takes the Diet Coke with a thanks, Cameron simply leaning back in the seat and putting his belt on.

"Pull back onto the road, I'll give directions for you. There is also something that I think we should discuss."

A few minutes down the road, Cameron catches the eye of the two officers seated in the front seat.

"Alright. So, I told Judy to have you trace us here." Cameron confesses.

"How and why?" Arron asks.

"Well simply, I'm the Inquisition, she was right. And I needed you two to know."

"Again, _why_?"

"Only other two officers that have heard my voice in a situation that it can be recognized as I speak now. Last week at the storage facility, too much gunfire and yelling for someone to be absolutely sure about it. You two however, last month you heard my calm voice when I stopped a rape in that alley. Hey take a left up here. If you were as let's say, _observant_ as Judy, that isn't an insult, you would have put two and two together when you came to see me at the morgue."

"I had my suspicions, nothing I'd get a warrant for, but they were there." Laura inputs, turning onto a dirt road with a gate.

Cameron hits something on his phone and the gate swings open, allowing entry. "Anyways, I need more officers in on my true identity. If I were to turn up dead without anyone knowing, and the vigilante to suddenly disappear, connections could be made, wrong ones probably."

"Who already knows other then us?"

"Bogo, Hopps, Manning, and Fowler."

"Manning and Fowler?"

"Old friends, caught me beating a sex offender to death with a price of rebar. Words were exchanged, I fled, got a phone call later where I explained everything... Anyways, here we are, my cabin in the woods!"

"Don't call it that."

"Fair."

The car pulls to a halt behind the parked pickup truck, multiple other vehicles seen scattered around.

Cameron pulls himself out of the back seat, stretching his back and walking over to the assembld folding tables with weapons on them.

"They filled in?" Shawn asks, eating some chicken jerky.

"Yep, NOW LETS SHOOT SOME GUNS!"

-0-

Back in Zootopia, the city was batoning down the hatches.

"Great job we got here Carrots." Nick complains, hanging from a pole, the massive crowd below the pair of officers in a slight panic.

"It's amazing how fast tourists will take for the airport, all at the same time. We're just lucky it ain't a stampede." She replies, standing on top of the pole that Nick was hanging from.

"Why am I hanging from a pole again?"

"Needed you to hang tight for a bit."

Nick looks up at Judy with a blank stare before dropping from the pole and beginning to stroll through the terminal once Judy joins him.

"You on duty when it's due to hit?"

"Yep, Buffalo Butt called all hands on deck. You and I are assigned to Tundra Town from Icepack to Snowdrift."

"That's all Residential and the odd Commercial, looks like we're on standard patrol as long as nothing hits the fan."

"Mhm. Frostbite is in that zone, you think Robertson will be home?"

"Dunno, and I'm going to lay off him for a while, with Laura and Arron tracing them he can't do much until they go back to work."

"That is if those two aren't going at it in the back seat."

Judy let's out a snort, having to lean on a wall while she tries to suppress a laughing fit.

"Hey, tell me I'm wrong Carrots. Can you not picture those two together."

"Slick, it ain't exactly hard to see those two in a relationship consitering Higgins got video of 'me going at it in the parking garage last month."

"And how have I not seen this yet?" Nick gasps, looking offended.

"Because those who had seen it made an agreement to keep it from Clawhouser and You, who would give it to Clawhouser."

"That is fair. Hurtful but Fair. What about Jessica and Sydney?"

"Haven't seen much, rumours are once Sydney becomes a Tech they'll go public because they wouldn't be partners anyways. Arn't you a gossip machine today?" Judy asks, sidestepping to let a bear and a leopard wearing CNN jackets pass.

"Clawhouser's primary profession is an art that I am learning. Anyways, looks like the only people left in the city will be people that need to be here." Nick says, tapping something into his phone. "A few of the guys in the group chat say the train and bus stations are identical to this while the port is desolate."

"Ironically there best place to be is on a boat as long as the waves aren't too bad, my dad said that last time a hurricane blew through, everyone in the burrow that owned a larger boat took it out of the harbour and anchored a few hundred meters off shore, rode it out there." She continues, noticing that the mob had thinned out.

-0-

"_I__ can feel it coming in the air tonight, oh Lord_

_And I've been waiting for this moment for all my life, oh Lord__Can you feel it coming in the air tonight, oh Lord, oh Lord_"

Nick looks out the window of the general office block, humming along to the song as he watches the wind driven rain lash the downtown core, quietly sipping a cup of coffee as Judy strolls over with a few files in her hand.

"Here you go Slick, our posting for the next twenty four hours." She cheerfully informs, handing one of the files to him.

He turns away from the window, taking a seat on one of the couches thrown around the office, milling through the documents, occasionally taking a sip of coffee.

"So... From 0930 to 1330 we are on patrol around downtown and Tundra Town, and then until 1900 we are back inside the Precinct on call. Anything overnight?" He asks, placing his empty coffee cup on the table next to him.

"Bogo anticipates that the weather may not be suitable for travel after 2030, so we are basically given an hour and a half to either go home or get prepared to ride it out here."

Nick moves to his feet, closing the file and putting it under his arm and grabs his cup, the pair of officers making their way towards the hallway, passing by several enclosed offices for detectives and other precinct staff, the pair pausing as they pass the one belonging to Fangmeyer and Wolford.

"Nick, do you..."

"Hear what sounds like two mammals in an absolute lip lock? Yea, the two of them are just having a makeout session, so what?"

"They just got back to town, remember they followed Robertson upstate."

Nick makes a silent 'oh' expression before creeping towards the office, finding the door unlocked he turns the handle and swings it open, revealing the other pair of lovers in law.

"Morning Fowler, hows the weather down there?" Nick asks the tigress pinned to the floor by her partner.

"Stuff it Nick." Manning quickly says, breaking the makeout session and giving Nick a death glare. "Remember you owe me one, don't make me use it to make you stand in the rain."

"How do you owe her one?" Judy asks as Nick swings the door shut.

"She hooked me up with some parts for my project car." He replies.

"Like what parts?"

"Most of the body work and seats."

_Two hours later_

The Wind was beginning to pick up as rain continues to fall on the city, from within the cruiser it wasn't so bad as they drove around the downtown core, but now that they were in Tundra Town, the heavy snow was slowing their movement.

"Got two mammals up here on the right." Judy points out as the car continues to idle at the stoplight.

"Through the snow it seems like they're shoveling the pathway." Nick infers, squinting at the pair.

As they roll through the light, they find two mammals in military garb, on at attention, the other appearing to be screaming at them.

Nick and Judy exchange a glance, and Nick pulls the car up to the pair, while Judy rolls her window down.

" -so why don't you just go lay down in the street, all east three the snow plies can deal with your worthless ass!" The mammal screams, noticing the pair of officers watching them. "This doesn't concern you."

"Actually it does, consitering there's a curfew for all mammals other then those who cleared it with the city, so if the pair of you have the passes you're fine." Judy informs, eyeing the other mammal, who is shaking out of either cold or fear.

"Come on you useless..." He grumbles, grabbing the other mammal and beginning to walk down the street.

Nick and Judy exchange a glance, but before Nick can pull away from the curb, Judy's ears pop up, hearing something through the snow.

"Carr-." Nick begins, cutting himself off as he follows Judy into the blizzard, pulling his winter coat tight.

Judy walks down the sidewalk, following the sounds of sharp, rapid breaths into an alley shielded from the snow, she finds a mammal squatting as if he's protecting himself from a bomb, hands over his head, making himself as small as possible as he hyperventilates.

"Sir, Sir, are you alright?" Judy asks, not getting a verbal response, but the mammal acknowledges her presence.

Judy feels a tap on her shoulder l, looking back to find Nick holding a pair of grocery bags in one hand, a wallet in the other. He flips the wallet open, revealing a medical card signaling severe panic attacks.

Judy nods as she turns back to the mammal, calmly talking to them, encouraging them to breathe. Eventually the mammal leans back against the wall, sitting down and beginning to lightly cry. He finally reveals his face after a while, leaning back, revealing himself.

"Robertson?" Nick asks.

"Hey Slick, hows work?" Cameron replies, wiping his eyes.

"You good?"

"Yea, just haven't had one of those in a while. A long while... Hopps, does he know?"

"No, he doesn't." She replies, knowing what he's referring to."

"Inform him please."

"Nick, need The Spanish Inquisition."

"So you were right?" Nick comments.

"Oh yea, she hit the nail on the head." Cameron says. "Anyways, Hopps, That hypothetical story I told you?"

"Mhm?" She confirms.

"Wasn't the right story, let me tell you the right one."

_Five Years Ago_

"Robertson!"

"Yes Master Corporal?" I reply.

"Your brother left you a call, said he couldn't get through to your cell." He informs.

"Oh sorry Master Corporal, I'll find out what he needs."

"Fucking better." He grumbles, walking away.

I brush my hair back, standing from my chair and walking outside to get a better cell signal.

I pull out my phone, finding a missed call and a few missed texts. I unlock my phone and call him, not bothering to read the texts.

"Hel-."

"James I thought you knew you can't call me at work." I ask, looking back into the building to find the Master Corporal looking for me.

"I'm sorry, this isn't James. This is Inspector Renaie with Kingston Police, something has occurred involving your brother."

"Oh god, did he get in a car crash again?" I ask, suddenly uncaring about the Master Corporal.

"No, are you sitting down?" He asks. My stomach ties in a knot. He could say the next bit in Chinese and I'd know what it meant.

"He's dead isn't he?" I cut to the point.

"Yes, are you available to come to the station to confirm his identity?"

"Oh god what about his wife..." I wonder aloud.

"Mrs. Robertson is also deceased."

"What!" I ask, tears beginning to run down my face.

"ROBERTSON THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING!" I hear behind me, tuning it out as I grasp my phone.

"You should come to the station, are you currently at work?"

I feel the phone be ripped out of my hands, followed by it being smashed against the ground.

"ROBERTSON WHY THE FUCK ARE YOU STANDING AROUND TALKING ON THE PHONE!"

Something snaps inside my brain, reason and self control shut off as I spin, by the time I can clearly see his face his expression is one of fear as my fist approaches it's target.

Punch one. He's on the ground. Punch two through seven, and kick one to three. He's out cold with a broken rib.

I race through the building, ignoring the several people I pass, finding myself in my car, I start the engine and floor it. With zero regard or care I speed through the downtown, illegally parking infront of the police station and rushing inside.

I'm pointed through doors, sat down in an office, given the speech, shown the bodies. By the time it's done, I'm alone. Seated in a chair in an office attacked to the cell block. But no, no I'm not letting the courts decide this, the fucker will get life while my brother is dead, oh hell no.

It's a short walk, the mammal is handcuffed to a desk, officer vacant. I walk in, I walk out. Twenty minutes later, the officer returns to find that his suspect strangled himself with his own belt.

_Present Day_

"Ever since, whenever I've in person heard or seen people being ripped into like that, I go straight back to that phone call. I hyperventilate, I shut down. I dropped out of college due to the depression, anxiety, and paranoia. Couldn't get a job without ending up curled in the corner by sundown. Moved to Zootopia, and then after a panic attack I realized something. That day, I also felt the most pride I've ever felt. As I choked that fucker to death, I felt the most pride wver, I was avenging my brother. So now I go out whenever a low part of the month hits, feel the pride that I need to keep me going."

He leans back against the building, taking a few deep breaths before he stands, grabbing his groceries and walking off into the snow.

"That was... Did that happen?" Nick asks, looking into the blowing snow as of he's seen a ghost.

"Yea. That happened." Judy replies, pulling her coat tighter as she begins her way back towards the cruiser.

_Later_

Crime never rests, especially when the police are preoccupied, this is why the bulk of the ZPD was infront of Tundra Town's main bank.

Inside the ZPD command vehicle, Bogo looks at his panel of experts, while also looking out the window, eyeing Cameron's apartment building, barely visible in the snow a few blocks away.

"Alright, so we have fifteen hostages, eight bank staff, two security, two officers, three civilians. The two officers are Hopps and Wilde." A koala informs, hopping off the stool she was on.

Bogo rubs his forehead, examining the several plans that had been created several years ago, varying on the situation.

Several hundred meters away, on the top of a parking garage, is The Spanish Inquisition. Peering through his snipers scope he can see his two new accomplices on an indoor balcony.

Cardinal Green was a wolverine in a dark green t-shirt, jeans, green tint sunglasses and green bandana.

Cardinal Purple was a grey fox in a two piece purple suit, with purple tint sunglasses and purple bandanna.

"_Inquisition this is Purple, everything is set and the leader and two grunts are KO, permission for let loose?_" His radio crackles.

"T minus thirty." He replies, pulling out a phone and speed dialing someone.

"Chief Bogo." The phone responds.

"The rifle cracks are me."

With that, the phone is set down and the mammal in red levels his sights on the padlocked doors of the bank, pulling the trigger and detonating the lock. His sights turn to the windows, where he trains his sights on the grunts of the robbery.

Back inside the bank, Cardinal Green is covering Cardinal Purple as he cuts hostages free. A grunt suddenly jumps out from a corner as Green is distracted, the shatter of glass and the drop of the body indicating that Spanish was working hard.

A few seconds later, the front doors are kicked in, but instead of finding bank robbers to shoot at, they find freed hostages and several dead robbers, along with two mammals running off towards the back door.

Judy and Nick sit puzzled, having watched the festivities, they still were wrapping their heads around how efficiently brutal the new pair of vigilantes were.


	5. The Open Road

The sound was one every officer was familiar to, the clink of a pistol being racked. Gonzalez knew what it meant, the deadline had passed, the demands hadn't been met, it was time to get rid of the hostage. There wasn't much he could do at this point, he'd been tied to the chair for hours, the only indication of the passing time was the radio in the corner that was playing every bad song since 1973.

He lowers his head, silently saying a final prayer as he hears the click of heels against the concrete floor slowly approach his chair. Ten feet, five feet, directly behind him. It didn't take a rocket scientist to know what was about to happen. The sound of the hammer being pulled back solidified his end, the prayers turned from forgiveness to quick and painless.

The silence spoke volumes.

One second.

Two seconds.

_Thwack. Thump. _That wasn't the pull of a trigger, that sounded like something hard impacting something headlike and said head following it's attached body to the floor.

"Christ, is that radio playing _Blondie_?" Comes a voice, followed by the sound of the radio being tuned, a station playing pop music replacing the static.

"Purple, that song was one of the best of the decade, now deal with the badger you just hit with a pipe wrench." Comes another, the click of heels now rounding the chair to infront of Gonzalez.

The blindfold is quickly yanked down, the view of a wolverine wearing a green bandana and sunglasses comes into view after his eyes adjust to the bright light.

"Evening sunshine, it's amazing how well they hid where they were keeping the hostage. Anyways, let's go." She orders, quickly walking out of sight, Gonzalez's restraints quickly cut away.

"There's a P223 with your name on it right there sunshine." A fox in a two peice purple suit says, actively trying to shove a badger into a locker, eventually giving up and simply throwing him in a corner and dumping a laundry basket over them.

The desheveled officer grabs the indicated gun, following the fox in purple as he tosses his wrench over his sholder, drawing a short lever-action rifle from his trench coat.

"Green, we came in that door, don't tell me we can't go out." The fox says, continuing to walk towards the wolverine.

"Well, I'm counting about five squad cars ready to shoot whoever comes out this door." She replies, glancing through the glass.

"Police? That shouldn't be an issue."

"Well when it's those corrupt ones that we were warned about..."

"Point taken." Purple says, kicking the door open, blasting away with his rifle.

Green jumps around the fox, a C7 already in hand, dumping rounds towards the corrupt officers.

Gonzalez hangs back, out at the end of the street he sees what looks like a SUV with a massive ram bar revving it's engine. With the spin of tires and a blast of black exhaust, the SUV begins to bear down on the patrol cars blocking the trios path.

Two of the officers notice this threat, turning to engage, their bullets only seem to ping off of the metal, and the glass is clearly bulletproof.

Twenty meters.

Ten meters.

**BANG** the SUV impacts two of the cruisers, sending them spinning off in opposite directions. Suddenly someone grabs Gonzalez by the collar, dragging him into the back seat of the Ford Excursion.

The engine roars as the SUV lurches backwards, passing the pair of totaled cruisers, the driver spins the vehicle, now heading in a forward direction.

"Allright, that could have gone _worse_." The driver comments. "Hey, laundry bag him."

Suddenly, a black bag is placed over Gonzalez's head, once again dropping him into darkness.

"Sorry mate, can't have you getting any good descriptions of us." Comes a voice from his right.

The course of time starts to bend again, the only noises Gonzalez can hear being the roar of the engine when the vehicle accelerates, and the occasional comment by one of the occupants.

"Allright, sorry about any bruises or scrapes." Someone says as the vehicle screeches to a stop, a door being opened and Gonzalez being shoved out, hitting pavement hard, he hears a door he closed and the roar of an engine as a vehicle accelerates away.

He reaches up and pulls the bag off his head, looking around and finding himself infront of Precinct One.

-0-

"Step one, turn flare to face away from person. Step two, remove safety cap from end of flare. Step three, strike flare with striking side of safety cap." Cameron follows the directions, striking the flare before he tosses it away, igniting the gasoline doused pile of documents.

He takes a step back, the heat of the burning petrol slightly uncomfortable at his current distance. As he watches the paper turn to ash, he pulls out a carton of rolled cigarettes, taking a single one out and holding it towards the fire as he puts the carton back in his pocket.

A stray ember lights the blunt, which he places in the corner of his mouth as he begins to walk away, the snow falling from the sky slowly increasing in intensity.

He feels a buzz in his pocket as he walks along the dirt path to which he draws his phone, tapping the screen and bringing it to his ear. "Robertson."

"_Mr. Robertson, I'm afraid you do not know me, but we will be having a face to face conversation extremely soon._" Comes the feminine voice from the other side of the line.

"I'm not a rocket scientist, but I'd say that I'm talking to the mysterious figure that got to the city a few days ago." Cameron says, scanning his immediate surroundings, the sunglasses on his nose allready in Nightvision mode.

"_Si, that would be correct, now stop looking around like an idiot and start walking south, it's be a shame to put a bullet through your chest._"

Cameron begins to follow a dirt path towards the south, analyzing the situation as he walks.

_My back is to the fire, that means I'm silhouetted. Even if they have a regular rifle scope I'm a clean shot. It's about thirty meters to the fence, that means that anyone could be in the back of a van, two shots, one to knock me down, one to finish me off._

"_You're a smart mammal Robertson, Allright walk straight to the fence._" The caller says before the call ends.

Cameron shrugs, slipping his phone into the inside pocket of his coat, directly over his heart. _The stories of phones stopping bullets are true right?_

He walks straight to the fence, stopping immediately before he reaches it, the hum of electricity the only signal that the fence was still live.

After a few seconds, a pair of car high beams flip on, slightly blinding Cameron as he stands behind the fence.

"You want to talk, I want to see your face, drop the high beams." He announces, his shades protecting his eyes from the majority of the light.

The lights intensity drops, Cameron respectfully holding his hands infront of him as he hears a car door open and close, and the light be blocked by a figure. The figure slowly walks towards the fence, a foot of snow hindering any quick movement.

Cameron breaks a grin as the mammal in question comes into view. "Sydney White, why am I not surprised?" He half laughs.

"Cameron, you act like we are talking as if we'd seen each other five minutes ago. It's been fifteen years." The jaguar spits, venom in her words.

"Sydney. I was in the Army, you were running off to Mexico with Jake, even though we were friends I didn't feel like the situation deserved more attention then I gave it!" Cameron comments, suddenly defensive.

"More attention then you gave it? Ah never mind, it's the past, now for the present, I presume you know what I've done in town so far."

"Oh yea, the Vendega cartel just had several of its leaders north of the border taken out by a hit mammal, it has your style all over it."

"Says the vigilante."

Cameron sighs, looking to his left and right.

"Let's move this conversation inside, there's a gate this way." He informs, beginning to walk along the fence.

-0-

Cameron puts the chain back around the metal bars, replacing the padlock and tossing the key back into it's hiding place. He turns around, walking up to the passenger door of the sedan and getting into the passenger seat, a blast of hot air hitting his face.

"Adjusted to the Mexican climate I see." He comments, unbuttoning his coat.

Sydney just shakes her head as she shifts the vehicle into drive.

"Anyways, Yes I'm a vigilante, you're a hit mammal, now I'm wondering why you've come to see me. It ain't to kill me, you'd have dropped me in the field and left."

"I've come to see you because I need assistance." Sydney replies.

"Go on."

"You're a vigilante, the city coroner, and buddy buddy with the city's star cops. Moreover, you have the largest stash of weapons in the city." She explains as Cameron points out a garage door.

"Before I promise anything, I want to know your marks."

"Three marks, first is the leader of the Vendega cartel in the city. Number two is a shipper at the docks who screwed over some customers. And number three is Alice Tundra." She explains as she parks the car inside the garage.

Cameron freezes dead, turning to meet Sydney's gaze he somewhat chokes on a cough. "Alice Tundra? What she do?"

"To explain that I need a few drinks." Sydney says, getting out of the car. "This your garage? I see you still have the Challenger."

"Mhm this is my garage, also my base of operations." He comments, strolling over to what looks like a closet and opening the door.

As Sydney follows him inside, he lifts a pallet to reveal stairs, which he allows her to decend first, before dropping the pallet back above them.

At the bottom of the stairs, he punches a code into the three locks on the door, before swinging it open.

"Sweet place you got here." The jaguar admires, strolling over to a coat rack and loosing her winter jacket.

Cameron shrugs off his flannel coat, tossing it over a chair as he proceeds off towards a fridge.

"What you drink nowadays?" He yells over his sholder as he opens a liquor cabinet.

"Tequila."

Cameron mumbles something about tequila before he grabs two cans from a fridge, tossing one to Sydney as she crashes on the sofa.

"Canned Tequila?" She inquires, opening the can.

"You'd be amaised what they make around the world." He replies, opening a can of hard cider and sitting down on the sofa. "Allright, let's start about why Alice Tundra has a mark on her."

Sydney rolls her eyes before taking a swig of her drink, looking across the coffee table at Cameron. "The Tundra family has has ties to the Vendega cartel for the better part of a century, and seeing as the Vendegas are coming down, certain people want their biggest business partner to come down with them."

"And I'd put money down that these certain people are a different cartel."

"Bingo, Cartels have unspoken laws between them, you don't go after those uninvolved, children are never targeted, and collateral damage is compensated."

"Not surprised. Anyways what's the price on your head?"

"Two cartels have alive marks for me, and the rest have come to an understanding that it's just business for me."

"Nobody wants you dead? Luckyyyyy."

"You're a vigilante Cameron, of course a few mammals would want to find you dead."

"The thing is. I have no marks on me, only thing I have to deal with are the ones who want revenge, and consitering my public policy is eye for an eye, tough luck finding anyone who'd come after me."

"You also have your accomplices, speaking of, where are they?"

"Let me find out." Cameron replies, finishing his cider and pulling out his phone, putting it to his ear after a minute.

"_Hagler._" Comes a Shawn over the phone.

"Yo, we have a guest, where are you and Green?"

"_Im currently on call at ZGH, Green is on her way back to the bunker after dealing with a few white collar idiots._"

"Tax Evasion?"

"_Nah, stuff like dumping chemicals in rivers and shit like that._"

"Oh so she's on a green peace rampage?"

"It's not a green peace rampage!" I hear from somewhere behind me.

"Call you back." I say into the phone before ending the call and putting it away.

"Is that Paris?" Sydney asks, taking another swig of her drink.

"Sydney White? God how many years has it been?" Paris comments.

"Fifteen." I chime in, getting a 'shut up' from both of them.

"Sydney, meet Paris Simpson or Cardinal Green. The actual military backbone." I introduce, Paris giving a short bow once I'm done.

"Who's Purple?" Sydney asks.

"Remember who you were shagging junior year?" Paris informs.

"Hagler? God Cameron, have better taste in men."

I roll my eyes at the comment, reminding myself why I hate everyone. "Remember how he was good with computers?"

"Yea, everyone in North America wanted to know who the Blue Mask was."

"He goes by Anonymous now."

"No."

"No not really, he's just real fucking good with computers, better then anyone else I know. The little shit can bring down multimillion dollar security systems in five minutes, I'd label him a danger to society if I didn't like him so much."

-0-

_"You're all I want a fantasy, Look what you've done to this rock n roll clown, ohhhh, look what you've done! I gotta have you, Photograph, I don't want your, photograph, I don't need your, photograph, all I've got is your photograph."_

"Eighties never died eh Shawn?" Sydney asks from the passenger seat of the Truck.

"Says the one who listens to _country pop._" Shawn retorts, give gn a sideways glance at her.

The pair bicker like an old married couple for several miles, finally being cut off by the walkie talkie in a cup holder.

"_Yo Shawn, you dropped Sydney off yet?_" Cameron asks through the radio.

"No, it's slow going due to the snow."

"_What do you estimate the Police response time to a shots fired call would be?_"

"I'd say delayed at best. Why?"

"_I have business to attend to._"

-0-

The element of surprise has effected history countless times, from the Winged Hussars charge at Vienna to JFK getting his head blown off, simply adding surprise to something makes victory very easy to obtain, not certain, but very easy.

And that's why I was currently hunched over an electrical fuse box, wiring a mp3 player to the Train Stations announcement speakers, it doesn't take much to cause confusion and surprise, distract someone from yourself for a split second and you can be gone, the action of going 'look over there' and then booking it isn't as stupid as many would make it seem.

I close the fuse box as I stand, adjusting the suit I was wearing. I make sure i didn't stand out too much, the trick to blending in is simple, act like you want to be seen, how often do you give someone listening to music or browsing a newspaper stand enough scrutiny to be able to accurately describe them? Try and make a description of the last person you saw talking on a cellphone in public.

This is why I was seated on a bench, reading a book, and waiting for the next train to arrive. To any passing mammal, I was just a wolf in a business suit reading "For Whom The Bell Tolls" I pretend to give little interest as the several undercover police officers mill around the terminal, making sure their mammal was safe.

I hear the announcement that the train was arriving, so as any mammal would, I grumble a bit and pick up my briefcase, still reading the book as I gingerly walk towards the lynx that was looking around a bit too nervously. I adjust my path of travel slightly, about to bump into one of the undercover cops.

"Hey watch it buddy." The rhino says, slightly shoving me back and examining me for intent.

"Sorry mate, I haven't slept since yesterday and the book is interesting." I inform, slurring my words just slightly enough that I sound tired.

The officer nods, turning his attention away from me as the train pulls up. Now here's another thing about surprise. Timing is key, that's why as the train stops and it's passengers begin to exit in their half sleeping daze I wait. Just when they get to the lynx I scratch my chin, activating the wireless signal to the MP3 player I installed earlier.

The guitar riff has the intended effect. The mammals exiting the train stop, looking around, meanwhile the officers begin talking into mic's as the lyrics begin.

"_Jump back, what's that sound? Here she comes, full blasting, top down. Hot shoe, burning down the avenue..._"

Just as the confusion reaches its peak I move,the simple dart enough to conseal its flight with a sneeze, not that it'd be heard over the music literally rattling panes of glass loose I cranked it up so loud.

I begin to act as if the music is effecting me, wincing slightly and closing my eyes I raise my hands to giver my ears, shaking my head as I 'find' that it doesn't help, I begin to walk towards the exit tucking my book into my pocket as I climb the steps towards the exit. As the music starts to quiet with distance I begin to change my pace, changing from one of discomfort to one of annoyance, after all I was a businessmammal who was delayed be malfunctioning speaker systems.

I pay little attention to the pair of officers who dart past me, quickly followed by the station's medical team. There was nothing they could do at this point, the Lynx's symptoms had quickly gone from trouble breathing, followed quickly by paralysis, and then his heart would simply stop beating, unfortunately another addition to the stroke victims this year. By the time his body will reach the morgue, the toxin will have decayed, no need to administer the neutralizing agent, simply turning the chemicals to water.

I exit onto the sidewalk, the scheduled rain beginning to fall as the night drags on. I hadn't parked too far away, bought a cheap Toyota and threw on some dealer plates. The click of my boots on the sidewalk slowly dissipates into splashing as the rain continues to fall.

In the reflection of a cafe window I can see the officers beginning to form a perimeter, it's not going to be too long until they find out I cut the cameras, then they'll only have the description of a white wolf in formal business attire.

I eye my car, a parking ticket tucked under a wiper blade due to the fact that the meter expired. I snatch it from under the wiper and pocket it, putting the key into the door lock I have to pry the door open due to some issues with it.

The engine finally turns over after a few seconds of gassing the throttle, I internally regret not giving the car a tuneup as a pair of cruisers scream past me. I push the thoughts aside, pulling out onto the road and grumbling as I see the two cruisers stopped at the next intersection, checking drivers for a suspect.

I quickly remove my jacket, stuffing it under the passenger seat with my tie. A glance in the rear view mirror confirms that I at least don't match the description to a T. As I pull up to the checkpoint I remember I left the plates off of the car, as they were clunking around behind me.

I curse my memory, slamming on the gas and tearing through the checkpoint, I take a hard left, drifting diagonally as far and as fast as I can. ZPD crusers were the fastest vehicles in the city, their only fault was they were top heavy, they rolled if you took a turn too fast, I'd seen the test films, the max 'safe' speed you could take a ninety degree corner was fourty, meanwhile I was going around them sideways at seventy. With every corner I got further from the cruisers, but I couldn't outrun the jam cams, there was on at every intersection. I eye a somewhat busy parking garage and press my luck, quickly finding a parking space and parking. I open the glovebox, grabbing my Hi-Power and a thermite grenade that I prime and toss in the back seat.

A quick dash to a stairwell and I begin to alter my appearance, untucking my shirt, I tuck the gun into my waistband and let my loose shirt conceal the weapon. A look into a pane of glass as the fire alarm sounds confirms the dye I'd put on was still making me look greyer then normal, the relaxed look completely different then the business suit I'd had on earlier.

I exit onto the sidewalk, the wail of sirens was steadily approaching. I pull out my phone, dialing Shawn's number, hoping he wasn't blackout drunk.

"_You finished with your business?_" He asks as he picks up.

"Uhh, Yea about that.." I say as a cruiser speeds by.

"_Gimme the address._"

I quickly take in my surroundings, noticing several landmarks around me. "Houghs Convenience on Highlands."

"_The fuck you downtown for?_"

"Shit went sideways alright? I used my contingency and I'm clear of the ZPD."

"_I'll be there in like five, I'm on the other side of the highway._"

The line goes dead and I slip my phone into my pocket, mentally plotting my route as I approach a pair of cruisers parked on the side of the road, the officers talking on the sidewalk. I put my hands in my pocket as I draw near, ensuring that I grabbed the right wallet.

_Four officers, two medium, two sub-large size, if shit goes sideways I go for the highway and we'll play frogger._

"Allright, so the guy torched his car and we don't have a description? Peachy." I overhear as I pass the officers, mentally fist pumping that they didn't get a description of the driver.

"Oh hey buddy." I hear from behind me. _Shit._ I look over my sholder to find one of them walking after me.

"Can I help you officer?" I ask, watching the body language.

"What you doing out this time of night?"

"Working late, wanted something to eat, I'm walking over to a convenience store." I say completely honestly.

"What you working on at three in the morning?"

"Stuff, Officer do you really want to stand here talking when it's clearly about to start raining."

They grunt and roll their eyes as they look up, seeing the gathering clouds. "Hurry sling and get your snack. _Pelt_." They mumble, I grin as I hear the last words.

"Your name and badge number please." I say, now ready to have some fun.

"What? Why?"

"I'm not deaf officer."

"I'll make you dead you little..." They begin, drawing a baton and approaching me. I simply pull the pistol out of my wait and rack it, aiming it at the officer's lower body.

"Gut shots are nasty, if you don't die of blood loss it's almost impossible to stich you back together right. I'd like a supervisor now." I say, the other officers reaching for their weapons. "Ahhh, let's not be hasty, I'm only acting in self defence, and seeing as you lot weren't about to stop him I believe I'm obligated to say that if you so much as flinch before you call a supervisor I'll put a bullet in your friend here."

I notice one of the ones in the back go for his gun, so I put a bullet in the officer I was aiming at, followed by two into the officer going for their gun. I sigh as the first officer screams on the ground, I ignore it, turning my attention to the remaining two.

"That was a poor decision wasn't it? Cuff yourselves to that fence. Now." I order, flicking my gun at the two. As soon as they're cuffed I strip them of their weapons, dropping them out of reach.

"You know, I made all of you for crooked cops the second I walked up. The way you saw I was dressed, great way to detain em, rob em, and leave their body in a ditch. Beat you to the punch didn't I?" I explain, walking over to the officer on the ground, putting another bullet in him before I walk over to the other two. "Eye for an eye makes the whole world blind, but when you stop the ability for the eyes to be damaged, everything turns out great." I explain before I dispatch the pair with bullet to each of them.

I shake my head, all could be avoided if they'd let me walk away, and now I wouldn't be surprised if I had the entirety of the ZPD on my ass. With a hurried pass I make it to the convenience store, finding Shawn eating chips in his Jeep.

"Let's get out of here." I say, quickly grabbing the spare change of clothes I keep in the Jeep, replacing my dress shirt with a t-shirt, my pants with jeans, and my shoes with boots, I quickly run over to a faucet and wash the dye the best I can from my head, returning to the Jeep.

"Why are you in such a rush?" Shawn asks, eyeing me.

"Ran into some corrupt cops, tried to take me for a one way ride."

"Great, four more corrupt cops in jail."

"Nope, I'll be seeing them in the morning."

"You killed them?"

"The first came after me with a baton, the second went for his gun, and the last two saw too much."

-0-

"Jesus Christ Cameron" I mutter, watching him in the passenger seat as I drive, he was staring ahead, his eyes scanning the road ahead looking for something.

_Four cops, Jesus, I can get the first two, but he capped two more because they saw too much? What the hell..._

-0-

Chief Bogo is somber as he takes in the scene, as if four dead officers wasn't enough, all of them were under investigation for corruption, and the evidence had been found in their cruisers.

"Chief Bogo." He hears from his left.

"Ahh, Detective Fowler, what do you have so far?" The chief asks, somewhat optimistically.

She motions for the chief to follow her, and the pair walk away from the scene, joining Manning at the pairs cruiser. She sighs as she leans against the cruiser, rubbing her face with her hands.

"It's the Inquisition." She puts bluntly.

"What? Why would Cameron kill these guys for corruption? I can get the guy at the station but why these guys?"

"Servailence camera can assist us with that." Manning informs, handing Bogo a tablet.

The chief hits play on the video, starting as Cameron approaches, the video plays out on the situation, Bogo watches without any questions up until the point that the Inquisition executes the two cuffed officers.

"Jesus, what happens after that?" He asks, the video ending.

"He rushes off down the road." Jessica informs.

"Why would he kill the last two?"

"He couldn't have known about the ongoing investigations, he probably thought that the pair would simply plea their partners innocence, so he just got rid of them."

Bogo opens his mouth to reply what he gets a phone call.

"Bogo."

"_Apologies for the mess chief, but things had to be done._"

"I want an explanation and I want it now.

"_I had half the ZPD on my ass, after the whack at the station I couldn't take chances, and seeing as I was on foot, I couldn't have two cops on the mobs payroll say that I attacked first and then fudge the evidence._"

Bogo takes a long breath after the explanation. "_One more of these incidents and I'll issue a warrant for your arrest. Am I clear?_"

"_Clear as crystal._"


	6. Open Plains

"Ma'am, it's not that it's impossible, it's that if we do it, we will flood half the city if anything goes wrong." The beaver explains for to him what was the five hundredth time.

"Well then we just ensure nothing goes wrong. Crews began last night and at the pace were going we'll be done by the weekend." The polar bear behind the desk replies, swirling something in the glass she has.

The beaver just runs his paw along his face, shaking his head as he thinks. "I want out then." He informs.

"Now why is that Carl?" The bear asks, standing and walking around her desk.

"You hired me to oversee safety concerns for every one of your projects since 2015. And in those four years you have either cut back or ignored my recommendations, resulting in four class action lawsuits that I had to fudge a defence for. I'm out, if this one goes bad even I couldn't fix it." Carl explains.

"I understand Carl, you're covering your ass, something even I'd do in your situation. I'll accept your resignation and you'll get the standard severance package since you've worked for me for so long."

"I'll give you a free piece of advice before I go..." Carl days turning for the door. While he's looking away, a bullet hole appears in the large window behind him, the polar bear grabbing her chest as a sploch if blood begins to grow on her jacket. "Don't mess with the safety guy."

Carl exits the office, stopping at the secretary's desk. "Hey Lisa, I resigned, she said I'd be getting the standard package."

"Sorry to see you go Carl, she's just too stubborn, maybe she'll change after you leave." Lisa replies, setting a document request in the system.

"Nah, she isn't changing any time soon, that was made apparent." He replies, heading for the elevator.

The elevator is waiting as a janitor exits, Carl entering and pulling his phone out, returning the blocked call.

"You're welcome, you're lucky she was to stubborn to change."

"_It's just business for me. Expect a deposit in your bank account marked capital winnings from a casino south of the border._" The caller replies as the doors open and Carl exits the elevator.

"Allright, good talking, bye." He concludes, ending the call and putting his phone away as he approaches the front desk.

"I'm out boys, here's my ID card and keys." He says to the security guards behind the desk.

"Good luck elsewhere Carl, you know you'll be useful somewhere where they actually care about safety." The ageing goat replies.

-0-

It was almost too easy, pay off the disgruntled employee, one round center mass, either the cops search for a phantom sniper or blame the employee. Sydney shook her head as she walked through a construction site that the cartel ran.

"Oi, Javier!" She shouts, catching the attention of a coyote.

"Ms. White, we've been expecting you, said you had a package." He replies.

"That I do." Sydney grins, handing the coyote the soft gun carrier.

"So glad to see you, you want to go out for lunch sometime?" He asks, tossing the case over his sholder, it landing in an empty pit just as a concrete mixer begins to fill it.

"Nah, I'm booked solid for the near future, maybe next time we meet."

-0-

"Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm"

"Think aloud or stop humming." Manning complains, using a pair of binoculars to look out the window.

"I'm just wondering how the other guy in the meeting didn't even notice that his boss just got whacked." Jessica replies, looking at the tape outline on the floor.

"Well the guy was quitting, would you want to look at your boss if you'd just quit?"

"I mean I suppose, but the body hitting the ground didn't attract their attention?"

"Do I look like a geine in a bottle? Anyways, I think I've found where our shooter was." Sydney says, lowering her binoculars.

"Where?" Jessica asks, rounding the desk and looking out the window.

"Building, 45 degrees left."

"Skyscraper under construction?"

"Yep, any of the upper floors match the trajectory."

"We got some construction workers to talk to."

"Yea think it's the Inquisition?" Sydney inquires, raising the police tape as the pair head for the elevator.

"Not his style, he doesn't like it to be long range, he's up close and personal. And Tundra hasn't done anything to warrant a visit from him anyways."

"I dunno, the guy who quit came forward to the safety commissioner with tons of evidence of complete and utter disregard for most regulations. The next project, the dam that would help drain the swamp north of town for another suburb? The guy expected the dam to fail within the first decade, drowning anyone in the suburb."

"Okay so there's motive, still doesn't match his style. What are our other options?"

"Let's see... Disgruntled employee coming back for revenge, a family member or something of someone who died or something due to the safety faults... Maybe she got whacked?" Sydney lists, exiting the building and heading for the pairs cruiser.

"Employee would have been able to get a meeting, and they don't plan our sniper shots from half a mile away, same goes with a family member."

"So a hit?"

"Lots of reasons a CEO of her type would want to be whacked. Lots of them in this town have marks on them, just nobody takes them." Jessica points out, getting in the drivers seat of the pairs cruiser.

"Okay, that gets us nowhere, we have zero motive, zero description, and zero weapon."

"We're going to be at the construction site soon, it's just around the next corner, we have both workers who may have seen our shooter and possible evidence."

The pair of detectives continue their drive, pulling into the construction site, where workers appear to be finishing a concrete pad. As they get out of their cruiser, a jackal at the enterance whistles to get their attention, tossing a pair of hard hats in their direction.

"Looks like somebody follows safety procedures." Sydney comments as the pair approach the foreman.

"Scuse me buddy, got a sec?" Jessica asks, the coyote turning around to find the pair.

"What for?" He asks, somewhat peeved.

"Detectives, ZPD." She informs, showing her badge.

The coyote sighs, waiving the pair over to a mobile trailer acting as his office. Once inside, he slumps behind his desk, gesturing to the chairs opposite.

"I ensure you detectives, all codes are being followed, the rumor that we're using sub-grade windows is completely false." He informs, clearly expecting something else.

"No this isn't about codes, how secure is this site?" Sydney asks.

"We got a night guard and the gate locks overnight, during the day we have Steve at the gate as you met, not not much more, when we start installing more expensive materials we hire a few security guards but that's about it."

"How do you access the most upper floors of the building?" Jessica inquires.

"Construction lifts, run up the full length of the building, and before you ask, anyone can use them as long as they're powered."

"It possible we can get up there and have a look around?"

"I want to know why I have two detectives looking around up there before I let you."

"Are you aware Alice Tundra is dead?"

"Yeah, it was the only thing on the news so far today."

"We believe that she was shot from the upper floors of this building."

"Mhm, alright then, you can have a look around I guess, but nobody's been allowed up there until we finish the crane." He says, standing firm his desk and showing the pair the way.

The elevator ride is unimpressive, though Sydney's fear of heights doesn't help her any.

"Go ahead and look around, I'll be here. And don't cross any red lines, wind might throw you off the building." The coyote warns as he pulls out a cellphone and answers a call.

The pair of detectives stroll off towards the side of the building that faced the Tundra office. Once there, they begin looking for anything that might give them the slightest clue.

The pair stay together as they sweep the floor, eventually coming across what seems to be a quickly made snipers nest.

"Ohhh we got casings." Sydney cheers, taking a plastic bag and gloves from her bag.

"Yeah, direct line of sight to where Tundras office is." Jessica confirms, scanning the skyline. "Man you can see the majority of the city.. from.. up... here." She trails off, her gaze falling on a skyscraper server blocks past Tundra's office, and it was going up in smoke.

-0-

"Always got the cops Coming after me

Custom built bike doing 103  
My heart, my heart  
Kick start my heart"

I finish stitching up the course on the table, my foot tapping along to the beat as I go along. Tying the wire in a knot and cutting it, I toss a blanket over it and deposit my tools into a rolling cabinet on my way to my office.

Once I sit down in my chair I pull up the autopsy report from my laptop onto my computer, completing my final notes and submitting the document. Drunk driver crossed the white line and ran straight through a concrete barrier over a canal, dead before the rear end of his car hit the groud.

I lean back, rubbing my forehead as I stretch and check my watch. Finding it around when Shawn's break starts I rock to my feet, strolling over to the elevator and entering it as one of the orderlies rolls in another body.

"I'll get to it after lunch, put it on the open table." I instruct, getting a thumbs up as the doors close and start to rise. I pull my phone out, responding to a text message from Logan about when he's getting paid for his legal work. I give an answer of 'soon' and pocket the phone, finding the elevator still rising.

As the doors open I'm quickly moved out by a team with a medical bed, punching in the floor for intense care as I turn down the hall. I find it somewhat busy, with nurses and orderlies running places. I simply suck into the break room, walking over to the fridge and pulling out leftover curry from last night and tossing it in the microwave.

As I wait for my food to cook I look over to the tv in the room, currently set to the local news, where I see one of the downtown skyscrapers going up like a Christmas tree. I watch in silence as my food finishes and I move over to the couch.

"_Currently, ZFD and ZMS have not released any numbers on injured or killed, but from those who have exited the building, they give a somber idea of the number trapped on upper floors. Engineers confirm that the building is not at risk of collapse, but the intense inferno is heating internal stairwells to lethal temperatures, as one explained."_

_"Well you see, the buildings walls are brick, so imagine you have a giant pizza oven, on one side you have an open area, on the other, an intense heat source. The fire heats the walls, which then heats the stairs and air inside the stairwell to such a high temperature, you can't get through without firefighting equipment."_

_"We have just gotten reports from ZFD that several bodies have indeed been found on lower floors that the fire has already ripped through, with dozens of floors above the inferno that are not yet on fire, we can only expect the worst. Now to Patrica Landcaster outside of ZGHs emergency wing._"

I glance out a window to find several news crews around the enterance, actually blocking the way into the ambulance bay.

Sighing, I clear the rest of the Tupperware container I was eating from and move to my feet, exiting the break room and ducking into the ambulance bay, finding several EMTs and a nurse trying to clear the way for ambulances, unable to be heard over the noise.

I stroll up to one of the EMTs who is desperately trying to clear a path with a bullhorn.

"Need some help?" I ask, hands in the pockets of my lab coat.

"Robertson? What're you, Ah nevermind, be my guest." He says, realizing what I'm going to do and passes me a bullhorn.

I simply switch it on, letting the immense feedback get everyone's attention. "NOW LADIES AND GENTS, NOW THAT I HAVE YOUR ATTENTION, YOU HAVE FIFTEEN SECONDS TO CLEAR THE AREA AND LET EMERGENCY VEHICLES PASS!" I announce over the bullhorn, before drawing my handgun. "AND TO ENCOURAGE YOU, ANYONE STILL BLOCKING THE PATH AFTER SAID FIFTEEN SECONDS ARE OVER WILL BE RENDERED DEAF BY A BULLET BEING FIRED IN EXTREME PROXIMITY TO THEIR EARS!"

I then hold up one finger, increasing the number of fingers held up every second. After ten, I simply lower my hands, everyone already sufficiently into the parking lot to allow vehicles to pass.

"Let's hope that doesn't draw any lawsuits." I grumble, handing the bullhorn back to the EMT and wandering back into the ER.

-0-

"So you deduct these, claim those, and do the rest normally." Logan says, pointing out items on a tax form.

"I should start a charity, that give great tax breaks." Olivia ponders, passing Logan a beer.

"Honestly not the worst idea, also buy stock in bulk, pay bills quickly and in fill, and claim everything as a business expense." He continues, opening the beer on a mounted bottle opener.

"What're you now? A tax lawyer?"

"Nah, just learned the system so I could cheat it, I have legally paid zero tax since '98."

The pair continue in idle chat as a group of mammals begin to enter the bar, the firefighters shuffle off to their corner, the majority of them looking tired as hell and a few have darkened fur.

"Rough shift?" Olivia asks across the bar, various members of the group just nodding as they slump into a large booth. "Yo, Klaus, table two's tab goes on my bill tonight." She yells into the back room, a thumbs up from an old wolf coming out of a doorway.

"According to the chart, EMTs and hospital staff will start filing in soon, ZPD a little bit after that." Logan informs, continuing to fill out the documents.

As of on cue, Cameron and Shawn come through the door, several of Shawn's staff with them.

"When I come back, I'll have tequila." Cameron informs, passing the bar on the way to the bathrooms.

Shawn takes a seat next to Logan, a tall can of his usual cider set down infront of him.

"Let me guess... Rough?" Olivia asks.

"Five alarm fire ripped through a skyscraper downtown this morning. Sixty dead, hundreds injured and so many missing." Shawn explains, rubbing his eyes as he takes a drink.

"Christ, TVs been off the news all day, we didn't even know." Logan says, walking over to one of the TVs over the bar and switching it to the local news.

He begins watching as Cameron comes back, slumping onto the barstool and quickly downing the shot placed infront of him.

"News is saying it was caused by faulty wiring, and made worse by tons of safety regulations being ignored... fake sprinklers, no fire-resist insulation, emergency systems never tested..." Logan informs.

"Burn victims are the worst, you have to be so careful, and even then it's so painful for them." Shawn mutters, just looking at the can in his hand.

Olivia glances over the bar, finding Cameron reasearching about who built the skyscraper. She just nods understandably, putting a vodka and sprite infront of him.

"Thanks, I needed that. All I can smell is burned flesh and smoke, I just let them fill the morgue while I used my medical degree to actually help upstairs, they had to roll in a refrigerator trailer to hold all the bodies." He whispers, his eyes closed as he holds the glass up to his nose and just breathes.

Olivia once again finds several ZPD officers and more ZMS personnel entering the bar, Jessica and Sydney sitting down at the bar with a few others.

"I know, rough day." She just says, placing their usuals down infront of them.

"Not as bad as the others, we've just been trailing dead ends in the Tundra murder. Bullet casings with no prints, the weapon while easily identified, impossible to locate. Sightings but zero descriptions. It's just annoying, then we have to find out what caused a deadly fire with the fire marshal, just bad all around." The pair explain.

Meanwhile, Cameron has been relaying information to Paris via text, who was now planning on systematically taking out every mammal who was involved in the design oversights. He finishes his drink, before rising to his feet.

"I'm going to start making my way home, going to walk." He announces, making his way towards the door.

-0-

I push the solid oak door open, taking a deep breath of the air as I take a few steps into the parking lot. I see Oswald to my right scrunch his nose up a bit as I pause.

"I smell that bad?" I ask, already knowing the answer.

He just nods, I shrug and begin towards the tram station, knowing it's a good several block walk. I just pull my headphones out, sticking one in each ear and shuffling my playlist before dropping the phone in my lab coat's pocket.

"_The dream police_

_They live inside of my head  
The dream police  
They come to me in my bed  
The dream police  
They're coming to arrest me  
Oh no_

_You know that talk is cheap  
And rumors ain't nice  
And when I fall asleep  
I don't think I'll survive_

_The night the night_

_'Cause they're waiting for me  
Looking for me  
Every single night  
(They're) driving me insane  
Those men inside my brain_

_The dream police  
They live inside of my head  
The dream police  
They come to me in my bed_

_The dream police  
They're coming to arrest me  
Oh no_

_Well I can't tell lies  
'Cause they're listening to me  
And when I fall asleep  
Bet they're spying on me tonight,  
Tonight_

_'Cause they're waiting for me  
Looking for me  
Every single night  
(They're) driving me insane  
Those men inside my brain_"

As I walk down the sidewalk I just hang my head, the day just too much even for me. A bloodbath at a gang shootout is one thing, everyone there knew what could happen. But when a skyscraper goes up in flames, one that doesn't even have proper safety regulations followed, those people didn't deserve to go out that way, and unfortunately the ones that took the easy way out had it the best. Out of every body I'd had past me today, the only ones that looked remotely at peace were the ones who jumped, the ones who braved the flames looking for a way out were charred beyond recognition, the ones who stayed put waiting for help curled into balls as they choked to death or cooked, even for me it was too much. Too much even for me, the thoughts inside my brain weren't even ones of anger towards the builders, it was just general... disappointment. Disappointment in people in general. Tundra cut corners on every project she did, Sydney clapped her earlier today, so I couldn't even do to her what she did to so many.

I swipe my transit card on a turnstile, shuffling through it and wandering towards my platform, the sullen look on my face drawing attention from several people. Probably thought I'd throw myself infront of the train. Instead I just slump onto a bench, the businessmammal next to me taking one smell of the air and gagging and moving away from me as fast as they can, going over to a security officer.

I ignore the figure approaching me until I hear them clearing their throat, to which I remove an earbud and meet their gaze. "Sir, I must ask you to come with me."

"My train is about to arrive." I simply state, not caring for other mammals right now.

"If you don't come with me I'll have to get the ZPD." They threaten, to which I just wave off and stand, approaching the train that is pulling to a stop, getting on the car at the end, the security guard pointing a pair of officers into the car.

They make a mad dash, barely getting into the barren car before the doors close, one of them talking into their radio as they approach me.

"Buddy what's the problem?" The other asks.

"I have zero idea what you're talking about officer." I sigh, just ignoring them.

"You blatantly ignor- oh god what's that smell?" She continues, clamping a paw over her nose.

"Couldn't tell by the labcoat?" I inquire, looking up at them, finding a cougar and a jaguar.

"Rachel, you remember precinct one had to deal with a skyscraper going up downtown." The cougar whispers, still audible to me.

"Can I see your identification?" The jaguar asks, holding her paw out.

I reach into my labcoat breast pocket, flipping my hospital I'd back into view and unclipping it, placing it in the outstretched paw.

"Dr. Robertson, _medical examiner_?"

"When shit hits the fan, doesn't matter what job you have, you're dealing with live patients." I simply say, standing as the tram approaches my stop, taking my ID back and clipping it back onto the pocket.

"Sir I didn't say you could leave."

"Then arrest me. All I have planned for tonight is to sit in the shower until I can't smell burnt flesh."

I take a few steps out of the car before being pushed into a pillar, my arms forced behind my back. I don't bother struggling, knowing one shower isn't different to another, and also because some poor mammal will have to deal with me in the back seat of a cruiser.

After a five minute wait, I'm seated on the curb infront of the tram station, Delgado talking to the pair of officers who arrested me. He says goodbye and walks over to me.

"C'mon Robertson, we both know you'll be bailed out anyways." He informs, helping me to my feet and opening the cruiser door for me.

I lean my head back as the door closes, letting sleep take me into its warm embrace...

"_Robertson... ROBERTSON..._ **ROBERTSON!**" I hear progressively getting louder, eventually snapping me awake in the back seat.

I look around, finding myself still in the back seat, but now in a parking garage. I get out of the cruiser, letting Delgado guide me through a set of doors, beginning to cross the atrium towards the holding cells.

"DELGADO! HOLD IT!" I hear Jessica yell from my right, the pair of us freezing as we watch her march towards us on a warpath, Sydney short behind her. It takes a few seconds for the pair to reach us, and I can clearly tell that she's if not drunk, then hammered, while Sydney appears to be sober.

"Failure to comply Jessica, you know I can't let him go." Delgado says, putting himself between Jessica and I, slowly backing us towards the cells.

"But Delgado, you know how he's had it today, and atleast he didn't get hammered and have to be carried home like Shawn does." Sydney interjects.

"Can you post bail?" He asks, indicating to me.

"Yea." She replies immediately.

Delgado shrugs and motions for them to follow us.

————


End file.
